Renegades Part 1
by SomethingCalledShips
Summary: A multi ship series were eight YouTubers find themselves thrust into a gladiatorial competition of kill-or-be-killed confined to the state of California. Together, these eight YouTubers must face blood shed, tears, love, and war as they battle for their survival in the "program," The Renegade Program. Ships: H2OVanoss, Minicat, Terrornuckel, DaithiDeLui
1. Chapter 1 - Three Documents

**Chapter 1 - Three Documents**

Evan Fong dove for his buzzing phone through the pile of folded clothes and suitcases laying scattered around his room, flipping it into his phone and pressing the answer button.

"Hey Tyler!"

"Hey fuck boy, what's up?" Tyler was his usual preppy self, and his casual insult made Evan laugh.

"Aren't you supposed to be on a plane?"

"I was." Tyler's voice went muted for a moment as he spoke to someone next to him, then a bunch of familiar voices. "Hey Evan!" Craig, Brock, and Lui's screeched.

Evan cringed from the totally not harmonious cacophony of voices that powered through his phone's speakers, before replying with a laugh "can you guys not break my phone? I don't wanna have to delay my flight."

"Shut up Hoodini, use your fucking magic to fix it," came Craig's response before Tyler throwing a "alright, my phone, I talk to the owl," before Tyler's question came.

"How did Sydney take the sudden news?"

Evan's face fell slightly as he remembered. Sydney had not been happy to hear that he had to leave at such short notice, but this meeting was something he couldn't NOT go to. Even though it was their three year anniversary on Saturday, Evan had to go. This was the difference between his career as an entertainer and game developer taking off and making big money or just staying as VanossGaming. He couldn't say no. None of them could. So when they all got the email from Abra inc. asking to meet all of them for a special business meeting to discuss new positions opening up, they all dropped everything to make it.

"Not well, how did Nikki take it?"

"Not well."

Evan nodded. He would find out eventually what happened, so would Tyler. It would just take a couple of beers to get it started.

"Aight, so I've got these clowns in my Uber right now. We heading to the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills. When you landing?"

Evan didn't even need to check his boarding pass. "Lunch. David and Brian should be coming in then too, so we'll all grab a ride to the hotel too."

"Cool. Call us when you land then!"

Evan ended the call and was about to push himself off of his bed to continue packing, but a text came through from someone he hadn't heard from in a while.

DELIRIOUS: Hey bitch you still packing?

Evan smiled. He'd missed this guy.

VANOSSG: Just finished packing all my sex toys :P How r u? You disappeared off the face of the earth for a bit…

DELIRIOUS: Yeah lol XD Fallout 4 and all that… U saw my vids?

VANOSSG: Yh I did, but u haven't even txted

DELIRIOUS: Promise I'll get back to gaming with u guys. Just a lot of personal stuff going on too, so it's been kinda crazy… XP sorry

VANOSSG: Its cool.

Evan knew the answer to the question in his head before he texted it to his best friend. It was the usual question he always had to ask whenever he was going to Los Angeles.

VANOSSG: U in LA rn? How u feel about meeting up?

Jonathan didn't text immediately back like he had before, but his response was quick. Evan chuckled as he read his response, unsure what he had expected from his elusive friend.

DELIRIOUS: U know how I feel Ev. I'm sorry, I just don't know if i'm ready to show my face to u guys yet. sorry… :(

VANOSSG: NP bro. When ur ready to show me, -

Evan deleted the text. No, not like this.

VANOSSG: Np bro. I gtg. Txt u later!

Evan flips phone back onto the bed and goes back to throwing clothes into his suitcase. He and Jonathan had been friends for years now, and he'd never seen Jonathan's face. It was weird to think his best friend was nothing more than a voice and a low res JPG image in his mind. None of his friends had seen Jonathan's real face. There are some leaked images but, as Evan throws another shirt into his case clipping it shut, you can never be sure they were the real thing. Evan put away the stuff he wasn't taking, threw his backpack onto his back, and wrote a quick post it note for Sydney he stuck to their fridge that read: 'Heading to airport for 9. I'll see you in a week babe!'

Evan pulled his phone out as he felt another text come through.

DELIRIOUS: Fly safe

Evan smiled. Yeah, Jonathan was a good friend.

The room Evan was sharing with Brian and David was small, but effective. Since the arrangements were so last minute, the three men had to settle for a room with two double beds and a small cot on the floor, which Brian was thrown on too because he was the last one to fight his way to a bed.

"Okay then well fuck y'all then, Imma just sit here and appreciate having a bed closer to the bathroom!" Brian mumbled.

"Ah shut up ya fuck," David dismissed, flipping his laptop open. The Four Seasons had free wifi, and David had videos he needed to cue for the next few days. "Ay Evan, ya heard from Wildcat?"

"Not since we landed," Evan was in the bathroom brushing his teeth. He was going to claim the bathroom before any of the others decided to get ready for the dinner meeting. Now he was thinking about it, Evan pulled his phone out of the front pocket of his jeans. No new texts from any of them. "Check your phones?" Evan called over his shoulder.

David and Brian pulled out their phones and scrolled through notifications.

"Nothing," called David.

"Not a word from Brook."

"Weird. I got a call from Tyler before I went to the airport," Evan sauntered towards the door frame, which he leaned against, toothbrush in one hand and phone in the other. "He was already landed and told me to tell him when we got to the hotel…" Evan's voice trailed off as he refreshed the texts.

The most recent from Evan had delivered, but had not been read. Evan frowned and pressed the call button. He glanced down at Brian sitting cross legged on his own pull out cot with his phone up to his ear calling Brock, probably. Tyler's voicemail soon picked up Evan's call, "Hey you have reach Tyler's phone, but I'm probably recording so I'm not picking up. Leave a message at the tone!"

Evan ended the call as Brian started to leave a message.

"Hey Brock it's Brian. I'm at the hotel with David and Evan, and you guys aren't picking up your phones. What room are you in? We're in -" Brian glanced up at Evan who mouthed the room number to him, before swiveling back towards the bathroom mirror, "- we're in room 456 if you wanna come up and find us. Gimme a text when you can!"

"That's weird." David observed from his double bed as Brian ended the call. "Usually Brock is the one trying to contact you." David's wink was a clear indicator to what he meant and Brian's face grew hot.

"Okay, I get it alright? Sucks we're best friends and live in different time zones. Yeah, yeah, yeah." Brian rolled his eyes before tossing a "I can say the same thing about you and Lui," before joining Evan at the mirror. David huffed and, grabbing a button down and some dress pants, joined the others.

"I'm calling shower!" David shouted, prompting the others to leave by taking off his shirt and making a move to undo his jeans.

It was only after all three of them were showered, clean shaven, and dressed that Evan got a call from Tyler.

Evan saw the buzzing from where he was charging his phone, read the name easily from across the room, and motioned to the others as he went to grab it.

"There you are! What happened? You got taken to animal shelter?"

"Haha 'cuz I'm a pig your so fucking hilarious Evan," the sarcasm in Tyler's voice oozed through the phone's speaker, and Evan giggled.

"No but serious, where are you guys? Aren't we all gonna meet up then head to the restaurant?" Evan asked.

There was no immediate response. Finally -

"Yeah…about that…"

Evan's stomach dropped

"Tyler," Evan started, catching the attention of David and Brian.

"None of us are feeling too well…the food they served us down at the bar was…fucking terrible honestly…"

Evan could hear something in Tyler's voice. It wasn't exactly fear, but it certainly wasn't far off from it either.

"Tyler what's going on?"

"I told you!" he snapped, a little too heatedly. "We got fucking food poisoning."

Evan didn't respond. Something wasn't right. Brian and David were standing close to his phone, trying to hear what Tyler was saying

"'Aight listen, 'kay Hoodini?" Tyler's tone changed, trying to sound more preppy and at ease now. "You go take care of this business deal, so we're sorry we couldn't make it, and work your YouTuber magic."

"Tyler-"

"Will you just please?" the man on the other end asked, exasperated. "For me, Evan?"

Evan thought about it. He hated the possibility of not having all of his friends present for the biggest deal of their lives. What could make Tyler, Craig, Brock, and Lui miss this out?

"Go make us proud, Vanoss!" before hanging up.

Evan glanced up at David and Brian, both as equally shocked as he.

"What the fuck was that?" David asked, voicing all of their thoughts.

Evan glanced back down at his phone, and voiced the fear they all knew was fact.

"I don't know."

Not a single call, text message, or social media presence was felt by the three men after that last call from Tyler. And now, sitting in the loud Japanese Barbecue restaurant, waiting on the representatives from Abra inc. to arrive, they were starting to really worry. Evan watched as both David and Lui sent text after text after worried phone call while he scrolled through all of their twitter feeds, hoping for a sign.

Nothing.

Brian threw his phone onto the table in defeat. "They've officially fucked off!"

"How can that be?" Evan leaned past David who was seated in the middle of their small group. "Why would they ditch the most important business meeting of our lives?"

"I don't fucking know ask them yourself maybe!" Brian waved to one of the waitresses for another beer. This was his third.

David ran a hand through his hair and turned to look at Evan with defeat in his eyes. "Face it man, they ain't coming."

Evan threw is phone down too, and when the waitress came with Brian's beer, Evan motioned for two more as well. David smiled a thanks, but the three sat for a minute staring down at the table in disbelief.

Eventually, Evan did the only thing he knew he could do; he picked up his phone and texted Delirious.

VANOSSG: Dude Tyler, Craig, Brock and Lui just fuckin ditched our business dinner!

The response was almost immediate.

DELIRIOIUS: No way! Wut happened?

VANOSSG: T said food poisoning, but idk

DELIRIOUS: ? Weird af

DELIRIOUS: Realized they didn't wanna offer u guys a job without consulting me first XD

VANOSSG: Haha yeah

He was right. Jonathan had not been invited to the meeting, or even contacted for a Skype conference. Asking all of their friends to dinner except for their most iconic friend was a little strange.

David elbowed him then and Evan slipped his phone into his front pocket, glaring at David about to make some kind of retort to the smug grin he was sure was spread across David's face. But David wasn't looking at him; he was getting up with Brian to meet and shake the hands of four men dressed in black suites, white button downs, and dark glasses. Two larger men - probably body guards - stood with their arms folded behind the chairs the men would sit in. The business suit guys were smiling and chatty, shaking each hand with an individual smile and greeting.

Finally, when they were all settled, one man, a shorter man with blond hair closely shaven on the sides with an award winning smile and even more prize worthy teeth, spoke directly to David.

"I saw you most recent upload. Dead Realm. That is an impressive beautiful game, and you and your friends are very entertaining."

"Uh- thanks!" David was caught unprepared.

"Actually, Evan here headed most of the production of that game," patting Evan's shoulder, and turning the gaze of all five individuals - plus David and Brian's attention - all on the Canadian.

Evan felt his phone buzz again, and the momentary distraction and surprise at being the center of attention had him unprepared. Stuttering, he managed a sentence.

"It was really no big deal…great fun. And the game as a result is one of the highest liked games on my channel." Evan rolls his shoulders.

"If your a mastermind behind Dead Realm," began the man sat in the middle, lifting a small brief case on to the table in front of them, "then you will absolutely enjoy what we have planned at Abra."

The YouTubers couldn't contain their excitement. Brian's leg was bouncing and Evan took a gulp of his beer trying to calm his nerves. Was this really happening?

Photos were produced, a set for each of them exactly, and the men quickly looked through them, having to lean over and nudge one another when they found a really good image or description. Evan's eyes glossed over the beautiful, computer-rendered landscapes, weapons, and game play depicted in the pictures. It worked like Fallout, felt like GTA, and used tactics from their own game: Dead Realm.

"Renegade is a virtual reality universe where you become the hero or the villain," began the middle business man, folding his arms on the brief case and leaning forward. "You decide your fate."

The last image in the set was where Evan had stopped. A computer rendering of the three of them, Brian and David and himself, sporting tank tops and decorated with machine guns and rocket launchers, walking through smoke and fire towards screen. Evan had two matching pistols grasped in his hands, David a machete, and Brian had grenades - two - clasped tightly in a fist beside him. The three looked determined, ready to fight, grimy yet sexy. Glancing at the others, he could see they were stopped on that same image too.

"It's virtual reality. So we are working with Oculus Rift and some of our brands to create the greatest way to experience Renegade."

"Why Renegade?" David asks, finally looking up. "Seems a little hot-button for a game."

"You're absolutely right," the man congratulates David.

"We chose Renegade because, in this game, you are. You're rebelling against the boring sameness of modern day culture and choosing to take a different path, even if it's for just an hour. Violence is instinctive, and releasing that violence in a controlled manner is only one of the thousands of features Renegade offers."

The boss man leans back slightly, and the dressed man on his right slides the case in front of him and pulls out three more papers. The case is now empty.

"Believe that life can be more exciting than just sitting in a cubicle. Believe that a world awaiting a leader, a rebel, a Renegade like you exists. With an unlimited amount of game play and constant updates, Renegade does not end."

The papers are now distributed to each YouTuber. It's a release form. Evan's heart leaps into his throat as he sees Abra's official logo at the top.

"We are offering you boys the chance to become part of the team that updates Renegade all the time. You will be adding new content, new challenges, and new opponents to the game, as well as any new dynamics and tactics you can think of an are approved. You will also be testing the system before and after our release date."

"When do you plan on releasing?" Brian asks.

"Soon," big boss man promises. He sits forward in his chair again, producing three pens from his jacket front pocket, offering them to the men across from him. "All you have to do is sign, and you're a Renegade."

Of course they signed. As the three documents were passed back to the briefcase along with the photos, Evan caught a glimpse of the brief case's interior. There was nothing else in there, save no the papers and photos the man was putting in.

This dinner was supposed to have seven people at it. They only brought photos, pens, documents for three.

A cold sweat started to drip down Evan's back and, pulling out his phone, he looked through his messages. A new message from Jonathan was all there was.

DELIRIOUS: Let me know what happens!

Evan could feel a panic starting to rise up in him as his mind replayed everything. Tyler's worry, the sudden end to phone call, all four of them dropping off the face of the earth, Jonathan not being invited to join a project he would do so well on, enough documents for three. This wasn't making sense. Finally, Evan came to a conclusion on what to write.

VANOSSG: Renegade.

It was read immediately, but the response came after a silent few moments of nothing.

DELIRIOUS: Where did you hear that word?

His stomach twisted. This wasn't making any sense. Evan's fingers went to his keyboard, ignoring the pokes from David signaling him to get off his phone.

VANOSSG: Abra Inc. They signed us to work on a game called Renegade. It was a business meeting meant for all of us, that's why the others came out here too!

DELIRIOUS: WTF?!

DELIRIOIUS: Why didn't you tell me any of this!

Then Evan's blood ran cold.

DELIRIOUS: Get out now.

Evan screencaped the conversation and sent it to both Brian and David before he slipped his phone away and made an excuse to run to the bathroom.

"Girlfriend emergency, you know?" Evan chuckled, then bolted as inconspicuously as he could to the bathroom. Once inside, he called.

"Jonathan! What's going on?"

"Why didn't you guys tell me any of this!?" Jonathan screamed down the phone.

"Jonathan we just signed those papers. What's going to happen?"

"FUCK!"

Something crashed on the other end of the phone. Jonathan's heavy breathing and angry swearing under his breath were barely audible.

"Okay, listen. Those guys aren't from Abra. Abra doesn't exist. They are trying to scam you, and they can't do it if you all leave now!" Jonathan's voice was firm and scared and angry all at the same time.

"What do you mean?" Evan panicked. Brain and David joined him all ask what was happening. "We have to leave, now." Evan mouthed.

"Renegade is a program like gladiators. You bet on who dies and who wins. It's fucked up, and you don't wanna be part of that."

"Did Tyler know about this? What about them?"

"They didn't."

Evan heaved a sigh of relief.

"But they already got drafted."

Fuck.

"Jonathan…" Evan managed. His throat was closing up and he couldn't think.

"Evan please get out of there," Jonathan was starting to panic too, sounding desperate. "I don't want this to happen to you, especially you. Please get out of there, now!"

Just as Jonathan finished saying this, both of the body guards walked in. Brian, Evan, and David spun around, Evan's phone still up to his ear. The three stood wide eyed looking up at the impossibly large men.

"Sorry," one of them said, taking his phone, hitting the end call button, and handing it back to Evan. "But you can't call a friend in this game."

"We don't want this. We changed out minds," Brian spoke up, trying so hard to sound defiant, but the cracking knuckles of the one body guard and the taunting smiles across both their faces was too much.

"You don't get much of a choice," said the second one, who made a sudden lunge towards Brian. He grabbed Brain by his arm and spun him around, slamming his body up against the bathroom wall and sticking a needle into the upper part of his left arm, where you usually would get a shot. He cried out, then went still.

Evan and David made a move to help him, but the first body guard caught them by the arms and threw them into separate toilet cells, Evan hitting his entire body against the back wall hard and slumping to the floor. From next to him, he heard a crack and David's voice cry out, and continue to whine in pain. Slowly, the first body guard made his way towards Evan, who was dazed leaning up against the toilet from his sitting position. The second one went into David's cell.

The body guard lifted Evan up by one arm as though he was holding a rag doll and, taking a similar syringe, pulled up the sleeve of his left arm.

"Welcome to Renegade," he said sinisterly, and jabbed the needle deep into Evan's skin.

Everything was pain, and then, just as suddenly and intensely, everything was silent and black.


	2. Chapter 2 - Marked for Dead

**CHAPTER 2 - Marked for Dead**

David had a splitting headache, as well as little to no memory about what had happened the night before. All he knew was that they had been at dinner, they had signed the contract, and then he blacked out. That was it. So sitting on the toilet while Brian and Evan were fast asleep and snoring was the only way he could get away from the noise and think. Something was wrong, and he could feel it. His body ached in a way he never had hurt from hangovers. His headache was a nauseous and dizzy headache, one he was not familiar with. Everything felt wrong. And the fact that he couldn't remember anything past the dinner meeting was even more wrong.

Eventually David heard someone stir in the other room and he opened the door slowly to see Evan propping himself up in his bed, eyes squinted and hand on his forehead. He was in a similar pain.

"Hurts like a motherfucker, don'it?" David asked quietly so as not to wake Brian.

Evan glanced at him, then rolled over onto his stomach and threw a pillow onto his head.

"This is the worst hangover in the world," came the audible grumble from the angry Evan.

"I don't think it's a hangover."

Evan lifted one end of the pillow, peeping out at him. "What?"

"It doesn't feel like a hangover, ya know? It feels like I got punched in the head."

This got Evan to move. He removed the pillow and sat up, surveying the Irish man standing in the doorway. "You got any bruises?"

David ran a hand over his knuckles and Evan got the picture and looked down at his own. If they had gotten in a fight, all of them would of fought back. But David's knuckles were clean of scrapes and bruises, and so were Evans.

Brian stirred now. "Can you guys stop being so noisy I'm really tired."

"Brian do you have a headache?"

Brian didn't move. "No I don't, but I'm going to if I don't get more sleep what fucking time is it?"

David caught Evans eye. This wasn't a hangover headache.

"Check your phones," David commanded and he turned back to the mirror over the bathroom sink behind him. As the other two scuffled in the room behind him, David turned his face from side to side, looking. No bruises on his neck or collar bone. He ran a hand through his hair - and felt something sticky and dried. Slowly, David brought his hand away and inspected it. Flakes of dried blood were stuck to his hand and under his fingernails. His stomach dropped. Parting the hair, David found the source of the supposed headache: a large cut up the left side of his head, hair around the cut stiff with dried blood. David's heart was pounding as he hurried to get one of the hand towels damp with cold water and press it to his head. Yet as he did this, David came to a conclusion that scared him even more than the possibility of swelling and bleeding out: someone had cleaned this cut. There was no dry blood anywhere else in his hair or on his body, there was no swelling even though this cut was easily a few hours old.

David lowered his hands and slowly lifted up his shirt.

"Jonathan! Stop screaming I have a really bad headache please chill."

David glanced in the mirror and saw Evan, sitting on his bed with his phone in his hand. He had reached Delirious. Brian was furiously texting someone.

His shirt came off slowly, and landed with a soft thump on the floor next to him. David starred at himself in the mirror; he looked like he hadn't slept a wink. The bags under his eyes were dark, his eyes slightly bloodshot, and his skinny self looked even skinnier than usual.

"No I'm fine I'm serious. Just a bad headache. Drank too many beers I guess…I blacked out at some point."

David carefully inspected his chest for bruises, covering every inch of himself checking. He turned over his left shoulder to inspect his back, which was also free of bruises. As he turned back, he caught sight of something on his upper left arm, about the area where you would usually get a shot. His stomach plummeted and his blood ran ice cold.

"What do you mean do I have any markings on me? What kind of a question is that?"

David starred at the tattoo on his upper arm. It resembled a bar code, with thick and thin black lines running vertically across his upper arm, with numbers written below it. David scratched at the markings, his stomach sinking even further down when it did not smudge. This was permanent.

"No I don't have any tattoos on me, what kind of fucking question is that Jon-" David glanced in the mirror to see Evan staring at him, wide eyed. David turned to look him in the eye, then mouthed "check."

"Hold on," Evan sat his phone down in front of him on the bed and ripped his own shirt off, throwing it across the room in his hurry.

"Whoa hold on what the fuck are you doing?" Brian asked, getting up from his cot only to jump when he saw David standing shirtless in the bathroom door. "Why are you-"

"Take your shirt off."

"Dude that is hella gay-"

David pulled the sleeve of Brian's shirt up and over his shoulder on his left arm. The bar code was unmistakable and when Brian saw it he starred.

"What the fuck?" He screeched, scratching at it.

"It's a tattoo. It won't come off," David spoke solemnly. Evan was starring at the bar code on his own arm in disbelief, horror, and fear.

"Whatever the fuck this is, we all have it," he looked between Evan still sitting on the bed and Brian standing next to him. "And I bet Lui and the others have it too."

Evan made a grab for his phone again. "Jonathan we do. We have bar codes on our arms. What the fuck is going on Jon?" He stayed quiet as he listened to his friend swear on the other end, bouncing his knee in frustration. David and Brian glanced at each other before Evan turned back to them.

"He says we have to grab all our stuff and leave. Get out onto the streets and he will send someone to pick us up. And he especially stressed this," Evan paused, swallowing.

"Run."

"What now?" David asked. There were outside the hotel, Evan glanced up and down the street. People crowded the sidewalks and cars zoomed past so fast it was impossible to tell what was going on.

Evan clearly had no clue, he glanced around some more before turning back to them.

"Jonathan said we need to run, so we keep moving." Evan turned away from David and Brian, picked a direction and motioned to them as he set off, his duffel bag slung over his shoulder.

The small group pushed through the crowd, trying to put some distance between them and the Four Seasons, when Brian grabbed Evan's shoulder.

"Don't look now, but a white van pulled up outside the hotel."

Evan felt the skin on his neck crawl when he heard this.

"Five guys just got out…They're going into the hotel."

"Move faster and stop talking," Evan growled, stepping up his pace.

They moved in silence for a few more minutes until Brian spoke again.

"Those guys have come back out…"

"And?" Evan asked, impatient. But Brian didn't respond. Evan glanced behind him to see if Brian was okay, and instead saw the white van and five men Brian had mentioned. He also saw one of them pointing towards them.

"Fuck." Evan whipped his head around and felt someone grab his left arm.

"Time to move," David said as he dragged Evan after him with Brian jogging beside them. Brian kept glancing behind them, waiting for one of the men to appear in the crowd. But either Brian didn't see anything or he stayed quiet, because no such warning came. Instead, Evan caught a yelp and a push down a side alley.

"The white van! It's behind us! Run!" Brian whisper shouted.

The three of them took off, running down the alley as they heard the screeching of tires echo down the alley. The white van had stopped, and the doors were sliding open. David swung around a corner and into another alley, pulling Brian and Evan behind him as something whizzed past them and chipped the brick work of the building.

"They've got fucking guns!" David screeched, turning to stare wide eyed at Evan and Brian, both low and ready to run. Evan could feel the adrenaline kicking up fires in his blood stream, the fear of getting shot adding to the intensity of his new found strength and stamina.

"Keep running," Evan called as he broke into a sprint. The pounding footsteps of David and Brian were close behind him, and the footsteps of the men chasing them were come closer by the second.

Again, a bullet was shot, this time making contact with Evan's duffle bag, puncturing it and knocking him forward slightly from the impact.

The group turned another corner, this time a street in front of them. The light at the end of the tunnel gave all of them hope, and Evan felt his friends upping their speed and pulling alongside him now. Evan's arms punched the air as he ran, his feet digging into the pavement bellow him, not caring about making a noise or pacing himself. This was a dead run, both figuratively and literally.

Suddenly from an intersecting alley four other men jumped out at them, causing Evan, Brian, and David to skid to a halt. The men had guns, big guns, dark glasses and sported matching black tank tops with dark denim and black shoes. They all had different colored bandanas wrapped around their faces, like bandits.

Panting for breath, Evan turned to see the other five men closing off their only other exit. They were trapped.

"So much for all of that running, huh?" Another man, dressed the same as the others, but sporting a gold plated pistol, rounded the corner. "It still left you fucked, didn't it?" He had a thick, Texas accent, bullet scars on his exposed arms, and a barbed wire tattoo around his neck. On his left arm was the bar code tattoo Evan, Brian, David, and supposedly the rest of the men pointing guns at them, had.

"Listen, okay?" Evan pleaded, putting out his arms as if to stop him. "We don't know whats going on, okay? We woke up, we have this weird bar code shit on our arms, we're unarmed, and we don't live here. We're tourists, right guys?" Evan glanced back at Brian who quickly backed him up.

"Right yeah, I live in England, that guy lives in Ireland, and he lives in Canada."

The golden gun man laughed. "Don't make any difference to the bidders, does it? You could be a goddamn fish for all the care, but if you can fight, they'll put you in."

Evan starred at him, his brain unable to process what the man was saying. "Bidders?"

"It don't matter, y'all won't be around much longer to worry about bidders, now," and the man pointed his gold plated gun straight at Evan's head.

"So long, ya Canadian fu-" the bang of a gun finished he sentence for him, his head exploding towards the group. Evan fell backwards as the mysterious gun went off and crawled backwards fast as the body fell to it's knees, then onto it's front, revealing another figure behind him.

This one was wearing black, spandex leggings with black converse, a blue plaid shirt tired around it's waist and a dark maroon tank top. They were holding two pistols, one of which was dangling lazily at their side, the other pointed straight at where the head of the golden gun man had been. They had short brown hair, loose, with side bangs framing their face and pulled up into a high ponytail.

The figure, now pretty clearly a girl, winked at Evan, before twirling the gun around her finger and throwing both up, her muscled arms complete with bar code tattoo rippled slightly.

"Sorry I'm late, boys, I had a hard time finding somewhere to park," her sing song voice teased the group of three, but soon her eyes narrowed as she focused in on the nine men all training guns on her.

"But now I'm hear, and I'm ready to fuck shit up" she said those last words with a grin, an evil, sadistic grin that light up her face and dark eyes the same way the nose of her guns light up as she pulled the triggers on her dual matching pistols.

Brian ducked down and covered his head as the gun fire started, the bodies of two men hitting the concrete hard in front of him. Shouts rose up around them and he could hear feet shuffling and stomping all around. David pulled Brian's arm and get him crouched down and running, the two following Evan as he bolted down the alleyway the man with the golden gun had come from. In his hand, was that same golden gun.

Brian felt sick as the shots continue and cries echoed and bounced around them. It was one thing to shoot people up in a video game, but a completely different experience to be present and part of the action. Brian slowed, grabbing David's arm to let him know what he was doing, and then fell against one of the walls and slid down. He was hidden by a large blue dumpster, and it was in the angle where the wall and the dumpster met that Brian curled up and hugged his knees slightly.

"Brian! What are you doing?" David hissed at him when he realized what was going on.

Evan stopped too, and turned back, ducking in next to Brian and patting his back every now and then as he watched the alley entrance from their hiding spot.

"I…I can't…" Brian coughed. His lungs were burning slightly from the running and the smoke in the air, the fear of getting shot was still hot in his blood, and hearing gun shots made him jump every time. They were so much louder than he thought, and as each ricocheted off the metal of the dumpster, they sounded sharper and more destructive, causing Brian to flinch.

"This is too much!" Brian cried out, burying his head in his arms trying to pretend this was all a bad dream.

David put a hand on his shoulder, prompting Brian to look up at him. Brian took in the crouched Irishman before him; he was sweating, his brow dewy and his eyes wide like a scared cat. He was glancing at Evan every now and then, and trembling slightly. None of them had been ready for this.

"I know it's insane, I get it. I'm just as scared as you are. If I'd known this would happen while I was in LA, I wouldn't of come. I wasn't ready for any of this," David soothed.

Brian breathed in, sucking gritty air through his teeth and filling up his oxygen starved lungs. His heart beat slowed slightly.

"David's right," Evan added. He sat down with his back against the metal dumpster next to Brian, the gun laying on the ground between them. "I'm fucking terrified. I don't know how I managed to speak before without my voice cracking. This is just fucking nuts…" Evan trailed off, starring into nothingness as his sweaty chest rose and fell, attempting to regulate his breath.

"It's good you took his gun though," David encouraged. Brian slowly reached for it, picking it up. It was smooth, slightly warm to the touch. It fit snuggly into Brian's palm and felt almost right. It was a scary kind of right, however, as Brian pointed the gun at the ground between his feet, not aiming at anything in particular.

"Careful," Evan warned, now watching him. Brian looked up at Evan, then to David, noticing their worried glances at the gun and each other.

Brian went to put the gun back down when they heard someone shout.

"You guys down here?"

All three stiffened. Evan thrust his hand out for the gun, which Brian gave back without hesitation, and lifted up pressed against his body like gunmen do in action movies.

"Who wants to know?" Evan called.

They heard an exasperated sigh and footsteps. Evan ducked out from behind the dumpster and pointed the gun at the girl. Brian jumped up and joined Evan followed closely by David. She stopped when she saw them all together, and frowned slightly when she registered the gun Evan was pointing at her. Blood dripped from a scratch on her right arm, and her leggings were torn in two places, both on the knee of left leg. Her hair was falling out slightly of it's tight ponytail.

The girl slowly reached down to her thighs, gently shoving the plaid overshirt aside revealing two holsters, one on each side. She slid her guns gently in, before lifting her hands up signaling defeat.

"Okay, okay…I'm unarmed now…you can put the gun down Evan," she cooed, smiling a small smile at them.

"How do you know my name?" Evan asked, shifting his weight uncomfortably. Brian could see his arms were getting tired from holding the gun out so much. So could the girl.

The girl nodded. "Sorry, yea…you don't know me…" but then she smiled again, this time mischievously. "But I know Delirious."

Evan sucked in his breath.

"How do you know Delirious? Who are you?" Brian asked, starting to get angry. "Just because you know our friend doesn't mean anything."

She rolled her eyes, and laced her fingers behind her head.

"Didn't he say he was sending someone to pick you guys up?" She frowned, her dark eyebrows knitting together slightly in confusion, then she laughed lightly. "Must be so fuckin weird to have some random chick who knows all of you come in and shoot a bunch of guys in front of you then, huh?"

The girl then looked back to Brian. "My name is Alexa. Delirious is my best friend. He is like us-" she turned slightly showing off her bar code tattoo "- he's a Renegade."

Now she perked up slightly, as if hearing something, and turned back down the alley from where they all came. After a second, Brian heard it too: footsteps, lots, running straight for them.

"And that's the end of that little talk. Follow me." She pulled out her guns again and started to run in the opposite direction of the sounds.


	3. Chapter 2b - Marked for Dead

The group of four darted down the alleyway and took a left, coming to a rusted, metal doorway left a jar.

Alexa edged it open with her back, the metal scrapping loudly and sparks flying as she opened it more for the boys. "In," she gestured with her head.

Brian's nose was met with a moldy wet smell. It was dark and dusty, and a rickety old staircase was in front of them. He guess what she wanted before she said "up," because Brian was already half way up the staircase before she spoke. The second floor was one giant room, and didn't smell any better. There were, however, two small dusty windows facing him, one of which was opened a jar to a fire escape outside.

"Go to the roof," Alexa hissed, leaning against the metal door on the first floor with a guns ready. The footsteps were closer now, and Alexa was clearly worried about the possibility of another shoot out. "Take this," she hissed at Brian, and tossed one of her guns up the stairs towards him.

Brian caught it, but almost screamed in the process.

"It's not armed. You know how to do that?"

Brian looked down at the gun, then back at her. She held up her gun in demonstration, sliding the top part back until it clicked then letting it come forward again. "Just like a nerf gun buddy," she grinned at him, then whipped her head back to the doorway, firing one shot which caused a cry of pain.

Brian booked it to the window, accompanied by David and Evan. He threw open the window and clambered out onto the fire escape. Once out, Brian gave a hand to David while Evan kept watch inside; Brian looked up through the web of metal beams, stairs, and mesh, watching the fire escape weave all the way up to the roof of the building.

Once everyone was out, Brian took the lead with Evan bringing up the rear as the three jumped up several steps at a time making their way to the top. They were almost at the roof, when a crash broke the glass of a second window below, causing the boys to stop dead and look. Alexa came hurtling out - thrown by someone - and hit the metal railing below, coughing as if she had the air knocked out of her. She sat up and fired shot after shot into the room until her gun was dead. She hit it several times with the but of her hand, then threw it through the window, pulled herself up, and bounding up the stairs after the boys.

Brian pulled himself onto the roof, helping David, then Evan up. Alexa soon followed, pursued by two heavies. Brian was still crouched down, and raised his gun threatening to shoot the heavies. But suddenly, Alexa jumped up grabbing his gun and, in one swift move, spun in mid air and landed the noise of the pistol between the first heavies's eyes and pulled the trigger. His had exploded, as Alexa landed, crouched down, then swung her leg up in a perfect ark catching the second heavy on the underside of his chin. His head was thrown back, and this gave her a good opportunity for her next bullet to hit his neck.

She pulled herself up with Brian's help, both turning to find Evan and David looking down at the alley below them on the other side of the building. Alexa and Brian trotted over, looking down twenty stories to the maze of alley below.

"And where is your ride?" Evan asked, panic was starting to grip him, as it was for all of them. Except Alexa, who glanced cheekily at Evan and said "Just a few streets over."

With this, she backed up, ran at the gap, and jumped. She made it over the alley with ease, rolling when she hit the roof of the other side, and came up on one knee, motioning for the others to follow, which they did.

Alexa dragged them across two more gaps before hitting a street. She pointed at a white SUV below saying "that's our ride," then she went to a side of the roof where there was an alley below. She turned to face the three boys behind her, smiled, then jumped off the edge.

Brian, Evan, and David ran to the edge, only to see she had landed in a dumpster and was climbing out, motioning for them to follow.

Alexa opened the side doors of the car, then climbed into the front seat where she started the car. The car took off as soon as the doors closed, and sped down the street, took a quick right, then another, and speed down that street. It wasn't for another minute that Alexa took her foot off the gas, but when she did, she sighed contentedly. "Lost em."

"Now explain to me again, because I clearly missed something when you explained everything earlier, but," and he yelled the next few words "what the fuck is going on?"

"Calm the fuck down I'm driving first of all," Alexa yelled back. "And second of all, I just saved your ungrateful asses from getting pumped full of lead, so maybe some thanks would be nice?" She retorted, clenching the driving wheel hard and setting her jaw.

"How do you know Jonathan?" Evan asked. "You said he was like us, but-"

"What are we?" Brian finished his sentence.

"I know Delirious because we are both Renegades, like you guys now. As for what we are, that's not important right now," Alexa's ground through her teeth. She was not happy at all.

"What do you mean it's not fucking important?" David joined the conversation now. "We got fucking shot at, jumped off fucking buildings, and you're expecting us to just fucking take it?"

"Yes."

Brian was stunned. She was being way to terse he felt for the situation.

"Well excuse me, baby doll," David began again, "But I don't like being expected to just take getting shot at lightly!"

Alexa swerved into a parking spot along the side of the street, took her gun out, and hit David on the side of his head with the but of her gun. He slumped back into his seat, unconscious, but still breathing.

Brian and Evan stared, open mouthed as she turned to face them too. They shrank back into their seats when her blazing eyes met there's.

"If this is how the ride is going to go, I'd rather get this over with now," and with a swift movement of her gun, caught Brian on the side of his head, knocking him unconscious.


	4. Chapter 3 - The Boss

**CHAPTER 3 - The Boss**

For the second time during his stay in LA, Evan was waking up with a headache. Clutching the side of his head, he felt the bruise and the swell, and he could also feel the crankiness of the head injury kicking in as well.

Evan sat up slowly, and took a minute to look around his new surroundings. It was a small room, a double bed which he was sleeping in with two bedside tables each adorned with fairly modern-ish lights, a closet and a mirror stood in a corner to the right of the bed, and bookshelf with an arm chair to the left and a door to the left of the arm chair. The ceiling had a ceiling fan and light source attached, and a window was situated between the right bedside table and the wardrobe; the window's blinds were shuttered and the entire room was dully light. In the chair by the door, Evan slowly realized, was a figure. This figure was wearing sweatpants with ankle socks, an off the shoulder shirt, and hair pulled into the messiest bun of all time. Alexa.

Evan got out of bed slowly, making his way towards Alexa, or more specifically, the pistol laying in her lap. As he stood in front of her, he could see her eyes were shut, her lips parted as she breathed in and out in her sleep. He took the gun slowly, hearing her words in his head when she had explained how to use the gun to Brian earlier. He slid the top part of the pistol back, hearing the satisfying but loud click of the gun, and pointed it at Alexa's head.

The click sound had made Alexa jump slightly in her sleep, and slowly she opened one eye a fraction of an inch. It was enough to see Evan was awake and to see he was holding her gun he guessed, but Alexa stretched her back very slightly, eyes still closed, then said "if you're gonna shoot me, might as well do it."

Evan was startled a little, but kept the gun trained on her forehead.

"I mean," she turned her head to look at him now, eyes open. Evan felt his heart skip slightly; she was scary almost, not in a horror house way, but in an intimidating way. "I did kind of abduct you guys, right?" Alexa let out a dry laugh.

The gun remained trained on her. Silence ensued between the two, Alexa's remaining on Evan's. Evan wanted to shift his weight, just to relive some of the tension tightening it's grip around Evan's gut.

"Oh come on Evan, I'm sorry okay? I just couldn't drive with you guys bitching at me in the back. Plus, I had to knock you all out eventually…" she pleaded slightly for his forgiveness, a short laugh escaping as she started her sentence. Alexa was still not terrible worried about the gun pointed at her. "It was part of my orders," she added, the smile disappearing from her face suddenly, glancing at the gun before back at Evan.

His hand remained still, Evan determined not to put it down.

Alexa glanced again at the gun before back up at him.

"If you don't put that gun down right now, Evan, I will take it away."

Evan's grip tightened on it, and Alexa's face darkened slightly. They were silent for another few moments.

Quickly, she brought her knee up, kicking the gun and Evan's hand into the air. She then stood, grabbing it under it's nose, and jabbing Evan's side with her fingers pointed into a diamond shape, causing him to stumble side ways and drop the gun. She spun the gun into her own hand, swung Evan's body around so he fell into the chair, and trained the gun on him. Evan starred wide eyed, partly angry, partly terrified. The intimidating girl in front of him didn't smirk this time, but stayed still for a moment, allowing Evan's mind to race with every possible outcome, all ending with his head exploding on the wall behind him.

Alexa pulled the trigger, the gun clicking empty. Evan flinched, hard. Finally, she smirked.

"Do you really think I would leave my gun loaded when I knew you would wake up with the worst temper in the world?" She asked, checking the gun into his lap. Evan flinched again as she threw it, but the heavy dead metal lump didn't go off, it just sat there.

"Evan, I'm not here to hurt you, okay? I'm here to help. Delirious-" she paused. "Jonathan wanted to keep you guys safe. In fact we planned to keep you guys out of the program simply because we didn't want you to get hurt," Alexa's eyes were sad as she spoke, and slowly she lowered hers head in shame and defeat.

"Jonathan was furious at himself when he found out what the meeting was for. Nothing I said or did could calm him down and spent most of the night awake worrying about you."

Evan starred. He didn't know if he should believe her or not.

"If Jonathan is so upset, then where is he?" Evan asked, cooly. Alexa glanced up at him sharply, about to speak, when someone knocked on the door. She went quickly over to it and opened the door a little ways so she could have a private conversation with the person at the door. The person on the other side, however, was not interested in having a private conversation on the wrong side of the door.

"No no no, he's just woken up, he pulled the gun on me, he's in a bad mood. Don't!" she was hissing, but the door swung open regardless and a man Evan had never seen before walked in, came straight to Evan and crouched down in front of him. His eyes a bright blue, hair a dark brown, and skin a pale flesh color.

"Are you okay?" a familiar voice said softly, and sweetly. The man's hands clutched Evan's face with a desperation and tenderness that left Evan breathless. He turned Evan's head from side to side, inspecting him, finally allowing a small sigh of relief and a smile. There was nothing but concern and worry in his blood shot eyes with large bags underneath. His dark brown hair was messy, and his plain white shirt was wrinkled.

The guy slowly reach out a hand and lifted up his left sleeve, revealing the bar code tattoo. He cursed low and heatedly under his breath, before turning back to Evan, tears sparkling in his bright eyes.

"I'm so fucking sorry, Evan," he said, each word more hard to say than the last. The man hung his head and shook slightly as he held back a sob.

Evan reached down at placed a hand on the man's cheek. He recognized him, vaguely, and as he gently pulled the man's face up to look at him once again, those bright eyes were suddenly all too familiar, his sad face suddenly so lovable. "You've never called me Evan before," Evan breathed softly, staring into the other's eyes. The man's eyes widened with surprise, then softened into a smile and that famous giggle.

Now Evan stood up, the man stumbling back a little but was soon caught up in a bone crushing hug from Evan.

"Hi Jonathan," Evan whispered horsely into the other man's ear, squeezing tightly as he spoke. He was beyond happy to finally meet his best friend, and now getting to feel him wrapped up in his arms, his giggle ringing in his ears pleasantly and feel his friend's arms embrace him as well was indescribable. Years of wondering who the man behind the mask was were now over, and as Evan pulled away to study his friends face, he still couldn't believe it was him.

"Hi Evan," Jonathan smiled, a smile so radiant and pure and perfect Evan couldn't help but grin stupidly back. "It's great to finally meet you."

The two stood, staring at each other with stupid grins on their faces, completely oblivious to the other person still in the room.

"You believe me now, Evan?" Alexa prompted after a long silence. Both started, and Jonathan glanced at Alexa.

Jonathan pulled back from Evan and surveyed him. "I think he does," he winked at Alexa who had come to stand next to him now.

"So Evan, you ready for some good and bad news?" Alexa asked.

Evan glanced at Jonathan before responding. "I guess…"

Jonathan spoke now. "Well the bad news is that since you are now one of us, you can no longer leave the state. We are all state bound to California, since this is only a Cali-thing, so none of us can leave."

Evan starred at him. "So my family, and Sydney…" he started but Jonathan finished his sentence for him. "Will not see you again until you are released. Yes."

He ran a hand throw his hair. The thought of never seeing his mom, his dad, his house, Sydney, or any of his friends back home brought a wave sadness flooding through Evan.

"But the good news is everyone is safe. Wildcat, Mini, Lui, Daithi, Moo, Terroriser, they are all safe and in the kitchen eating pancakes for lunch. Curtsey of Alexa here," Jonathan elbowed the smaller girl who elbowed him back playfully.

"And then there is one other thing we need to clear up as well…" Alexa added, then let Jonathan take it away. Jonathan clapped his hands together, rubbing them slightly with a confident air.

"I want you to be the boss of our operations here."

Evan starred at him, the words sinking in. "Boss? Operations?" he looked between the two of them, trying to understand. "What are we doing here?"

Jonathan glanced at Alexa. Her turn.

"I've been a Renegade since I was fourteen," Alexa began. "My friends mother pinned me down and injected me with the same tracking devices and dye the heavies who got you at the meeting last night did. You don't remember it," she clarified upon seeing Evan's frown, "but it did happen.

"I met Jonathan when I was sixteen. We both had a similar goal, survival and eventually release, and have stuck together to help one another out. As the years went by, things kind of slowed down and we stopped caring about release and more about survival as more people joined the game." Alexa's face had fallen, and she ran a hand throw her hair now and shifted her weight uncomfortable about admitting this.

"But now we have you guys, thats nine people in total. We can't wait for 'one day' to come anymore. I'm 21 now. I haven't seen my family in three years, and I'm sick of being stuck with this godforsaken tattoo and having to watch my fucking back every minute of every day," the anger in her voice was clearly a held back form of rage. But she composed herself before continuing.

"That's why we are going to cheat the system."

Jonathan picked up now. "The Renegade system works because there are over five hundred Renegades in California currently. Big money individuals or groups bet on individual Renegades of groups of Renegades; the bets can be anything from their survival on a day to day basis to their survival in a battle between other Renegades to their survival in total." Jonathan explained, and qualified by saying "it's kind of like gladiators."

Evan felt his stomach flip when Jonathan said those last words.

"The only way to get out of the system is to be killed, or have someone buy you out of the program…"

"But being bought is not possible," Alexa added, "because that's only ever happened once and because the son of one of the betters had been added in to the pool. So it's kind of frowned upon."

"Okay," Evan began. "So pretty much the only way out is to die?"

"There is one other way…" Jonathan said, slowly, pursing his lips slightly and squinting one eye. "But it's not pretty."

Evan waited.

"We have to kill five hundred people."

Evan was not expecting that.

After a tense silence, Evan finally spoke. "You want to kill everyone in the program?"

"You got a better idea?" Jonathan sighed, making Evan step back. It wasn't angry, it was lost. His tone told him everything he needed to know: this was a last resort.

"This is the fastest way out. And we all need out for our own reasons," Jonathan explained. "Alexa needs out because she's in college, I need out so I can go back to be with my family because their in trouble, you need out because of Sydney," Jonathan could of probably gone on but stopped there.

"With this plan, if we do it right, we could be out in two years."

"Two years?" Evan asked, blown away by the amount of time Jonathan had just said.

Jonathan nodded.

"And that's why we need you," Jonathan continued. "You are a leader to pretty much everyone here. If anyone can bring us together, it would be you."

Evan thought for a moment. "Why couldn't you do it?"

Jonathan laughed his trade mark laugh. "They didn't believe I was really Jonathan when they woke up. You did. You have to be the leader, the one who keeps us together. You're good at that," Jonathan smiled, his words warming Evan.

"Plus, everyone here already knows you," Jonathan added, but then also added "with the exception of Alexa, but that's not a problem." Alexa nodded.

"So if I take it," Evan said slowly, his mind racing over everything that was just said. "What will you two do?"

"We will assign jobs to everyone," Alexa explained, "based on skills and how well everyone does in training."

"Training?"

"Yeah. Basic hand to hand combat and gun skills. Plus workouts," she explained matter-of-factly. "If you didn't guess, I'm the coach of the group. I handle exercise regime, and I'm also a heavy because I can handle a gun better than most."

Evan looked to Jonathan now, who smiled.

Evan ran this plan over in his head. He would lead a group of nine people in an attempt to kill over five hundred people in order to be released from the gladiator-like program they were in right now. More than likely they would need a base, money, and weapons, so side missions like robberies would be needed in order to fund two years of food and other expenses. This was strangely starting to feel a lot like GTA V the more Evan thought about it. And even more strangely, he was almost excited.

Slowly, Evan raised his head to look at the two in front of him. He could already tell these two were going to be his best friends for the next two years. Jonathan's bright eyes shone with hope and Alexa's darker brown did too. He wanted to ask if they were dating, but the thought ran a cold spike up his spine so he didn't.

"What happens if I say no?" Evan asked.

The two looked at one another before Jonathan spoke.

"You're not gonna hear me say this often Vanoss," Jonathan fell into his habit of addressing Evan by his gamer tag. "But…please?

"We are gonna ask some really fucking crazy stuff from all of you, and we need you to keep everyone together and on track. We need you…" Jonathan looked away before he finally finished his sentence. "I need you."

That sold the ticket for Evan.

"So we should probably tell everyone else what the plan is then, huh?"

Alexa and Jonathan smiled, the man pulling him into another hug, and Alexa picking up the gun that had fallen to the floor and making her way to the door, holding it open for them.


	5. Chapter 4 - Tough Call

Tyler flopped onto the coach, heading buzzing lightly and pleasantly from the stash of beer Lui had broken out earlier as a mini celebration for all of them being okay…and also for Jonathan showing them all his face. Lui's house was perfect for nine people, although slightly crowded from time to time. He had a mini mansion in Beverly Hills area with a beautiful view overlooking LA, a pool and jacuzzi to match. The house had a special gaming room, a large living room in which Tyler was now collapsed, a brightly lit kitchen with a bar fully stocked as well as access to a cellar. The guy even had his own gym!

The living room was just as grand as the rest of the house: leather coaches decorated with throw blankets, velvet pillows, a large glass coffee table with coasters, magazines, a large stereo system and a pretty good sized wall mounted TV. The room looked out onto the back patio where deck chairs, pool, and jacuzzi were located. Lights from the city sparkled through the window, but Tyler's slightly blurred vision only saw blurry shining.

Not only was he tired, but his muscles ached from last night.

Sitting up, Tyler heard the others laughing in the kitchen across the hall from the living room, but he had wanted out of there; too crowded and noisy, and he needed to think.

Placing the beer on the table, Tyler leaned his elbows on his knees and clasped his hands. He needed to process what had happened, and more importantly, what was going to happen.

Tyler brought back the hotel room. He had been sharing his room with Craig, and there was a door that connected their room with Lui and Brock's. Both had a small bathroom, two double beds, a desk with a chair and a large wardrobe. Their suitcases had all been dumped on the respective sides of the room and Tyler was in the bathroom when Lui and Brock barged through to their shared room saying they were going down to the bar for light drinks and food. They all went down and stuffed their faces with everything they wanted from the menu.

An hour later, Craig started throwing up.

Then everyone, then he called Evan, saying they weren't going to make it. Another hour later, Craig fell asleep. Brock and Lui were already asleep and Tyler passed out as well. When he woke up, his stomach hurt, his arms hurt, and he had the bar code tattoo on his left arm.

'Security' knocked on their door soon, telling them to get up. They didn't give Tyler much time to wake the others up before knocking down the door, guns armed and pointed. Not security, more like hired thugs. They got all four of them on the floor in Tyler and Craig's room, pushing the metal noises of their guns into the back of their heads, laughing as they panicked and cried for mercy.

Then gun shots; the thugs were dead, and Jonathan and Alexa were standing in the doorway, beckoning the four of them to follow.

Jonathan told them what was happening to Evan, David, and Brian, then got Alexa to drive to the restaurant, where they watched their friends get thrown like sandbags into the back of a van and driven off. The chase didn't last, and Alexa lost them after thirty minutes of speeding down highways.

When Tyler woke up this morning, Alexa was gone, Jonathan was screaming in his room, and Lui was making breakfast. It wasn't until midday that Alexa brought an unconscious Evan, David, and Brian back to base, got them checked over and then introduced them to what was happening.

A slight knock on the doorframe roused Tyler from his thoughts, and Craig was standing in the door, two beers in hand and a shy smile on his face.

"I thought you might want another," he giggled, sitting down on a leather armchair to Tyler's right, handing him the beer. Tyler took it, twisting the cap off and taking a swig.

"You bet your sweet ass I do," Tyler winked and Craig snorted sarcastically.

After a moment, Tyler spoke again. "So…"

"So…"

Silence again.

"What do you think of the plan? To get out?"

Craig frowned, collecting his thoughts together before finally speaking measuredly and carefully. "I think it's a little crazy. Not just the killing of over five hundred people, but the thinking we can actually achieve this."

Tyler nodded, staying silent as Craig continued.

"I mean, I have never shot a gun before, and all of those men the other night threatening to shoot us…" Craig's face turned slightly gray as he relived the moment, "…I don't know if I could ever do that to someone.

"And it's not just that I don't wanna shoot people, it's also that I'm scared I might enjoy it…" Craig finished his sentence with a large gulp of beer. Tyler snorted a laugh before doing the same with his.

"I don't know if you can ever call killing enjoyable," Tyler monotoned, staring at the dark TV screen. "But then again, those thugs who jumped us didn't seem to have a damn problem sticking guns in our heads, so I don't think it's a question of if killing is enjoyable."

Craig was watching him, and Tyler got the feeling the other man already knew what he was going to say.

"It's more like how long until the killing becomes enjoyable…or just normal."

To his surprised, Craig nodded in agreement.

"I think you right Ty," Craig took another drink.

With a sudden crash, Brian, Brock, Lui, and Alexa bounded into the living room. Brian and Brock jumped onto the couch with Tyler, crowding him into the middle with goofy smiles and shouting as Lui and Alexa snuggled into armchairs, one each. All of them carried beers.

"So what are you fuckers doing in here, when the party is in there?" Brock wrapped an arm around Tyler. Brock had a stripe of red across his cheeks and nose, a glow from drinking all of the beer, while Brian still looked normal except for a vague hiccup every now and then. Lui and Alexa were both eating chips out of a bowl while they watched the interaction, Alexa sometimes yanking the bowl away from Lui, who then yanked it away from her.

"Discussing the meaning of life you dick cheese, get off of me!" Tyler pushed him slightly, Brock's beer splashing in his bottle as he rolled away from him.

"Be careful with that bottle, Moo! That coach is worth more than your mother," Lui warned, stuffing a fistful of chips into his mouth.

"Well that's not too expensive then," Craig finished the joke, receiving a riotous round of laughter and hooting.

Brock leaned over the coach and punched Craig, landing on target, but almost falling of the coach himself. "Fuck you, Mini."

Craig giggled, and Tyler smiled as Craig's face light up. It was the first time he had seen him smile since lunch the previous day. Now he turned to Alexa and Lui, as a scuffle over the chip bowl ensued, and ended with Alexa planting a foot squarely into Lui's chest a held up away from the chip bowl as she ate one after another, teasing him with every bite.

"Since when did you guys get so chummy?" Tyler teased.

Alexa's hair was out of the ponytail now and it swished as she snapped her head to face him, looking him dead in the eye as she held up another chip.

"Since I found out we liked the same chips," and with a smile, she turned back to Lui and ate it slowly. "But now we're enemies 'cause we like the same chips."

Lui turned to Tyler, pulling a sad face and Tyler quickly swallowed to beer in his mouth so as not to spit it all out when Lui pulled his squeaker voice.

"Ty…" Lui whined, sounding exactly like a six year old with his squeaker voice. "She won't gimme my potato chips," Lui finished his mimicking with a slight tear.

"Jesus Lui, you been practicing or something?" Brian gasped, laughing with the others.

"This isn't funny she took my potato chips," Lui whined, pronouncing 'potato' wrong.

In walked David, Evan, and Jonathan now, David laughing "what the fuck is going on in here?" when he saw Lui and Alexa, then took a seat with Craig, while Jonathan and Evan were caught up in their own conversation until Jonathan saw what was happening between Alexa and Lui.

"Lexa!" Jonathan snickered, earning another head snap from her.

"What J?" She asked, smirking, mouth full of chips. Her leg was still planted firmly in Lui's chest, and Lui's arms were reached out making grabby hands towards the bowl.

"Just 'cause you're stronger don't mean you gotta be such a jerk," Jonathan chastised. "Give the monkey some snacks."

Alexa rolled her eyes and turned back to Lui, eyes mischievous as she pushed the bowl closer and closer to Lui's outstretched hands, which started to wave madly as the bowl came got even closer. Finally, Lui lunged as best as he could towards the bowl, which Alexa allowed to him to grab away from her and curl back up in his chair, glaring as his shoved fists of chips into his mouth.

Tyler snorted with laughter along with the rest of them, even Alexa and Lui. Jonathan made his way to stand in front of the TV between Alexa and Craig's chairs, hoping to get the groups attention while Evan perched on the arm of Craig's chair between him and Tyler. When they finally quieted down, Tyler noticed Evan looked vaguely troubled and wouldn't meet his eye when Tyler tried to catch it.

"So I don't want to fuck the mood up…" Jonathan began, slowly and carefully. "But there is some stuff we need to take care of right now."

Jonathan placed his phone on the table. The mood changed instantly and Tyler didn't know why. Next, Alexa placed hers on the table with waited understanding of whatever was going on. Evan next, keeping his eyes locked on the floor. Craig placed his next, then Tyler, his stomach was no longer accepting the warmth of the beer digesting in his stomach, even though he was unsure what was happening.

"And there is no easy way of saying how to do this either…" Jonathan drifted off, and glanced at Alexa for help. She nodded, then quietly picked up her phone, swiped through it a couple times before holding it up to her ear. The nervous look and bite of lip on Alexa's face only made Tyler's nerves twist again.

"Hey, Andrew, hey. It's Alexa," she was startled when the person on the other end, Andrew, picked up so soon. She listened for a second, interrupting only now and then with apologies. Then finally, Tyler understand what was happening.

"Hey, babe…I'm sorry Andrew, but I need to…yeah, we need to break up…no, I just can't be with you right now…I'm sorry, I do care about you, I just can't right now. Please understand?" Silence filled the room as she quietly said goodbye, hung up, then placed her phone face down, signaling her completion of the little project. She pulled her legs up onto the chair so she was sitting crosslegged in her chair, head hung with a slight frown on her face.

Jonathan nodded solemly, Alexa not meeting his eyes, then looked around the table. "Understand?"

It was dead silent. No one moved, no one breathed, and Tyler felt his stomach rising into his throat with such slow violence he was afraid he would throw up if he opened his mouth.

"You want us…to call up our girlfriends…and…break up with them?" Craig stuttered in disbelief. He glanced between Jonathan and Alexa wildly. Alexa would not meet his eye, but Jonathan did.

"Yes. And family too if you are single."

Craig stared open mouthed at him.

"It's not about forcing you to break their hearts," Alexa chimed in now, still looking down at her hands in her lap. "This is about protecting those you love."

Craig looked at her now, angry and hurt. "Would you care to explain how exactly this is protecting the ones we love then?"

Alexa stayed looking down. "We are part of a game with no rules run by people who do not abide by any sort of moral code. If they think there is any way of extorting information or controlling one of us, they will do it," Alexa retorted, gently but firmly. She looked up at Craig now, and Tyler could see her eyes were wet. "They will beat, hurt, and kill anyone you hold dear just to get through to you. Trust me." Her voice was rising into a crack as she ended, but she shut up and lowered he head before her voice did crack.

Alexa's words made sense, but the blood rushing through Tyler's ears drowned the meaning of them. The thought of leaving Nikki, of calling her and breaking her heart, was impossible for Tyler to do and he knew it.

Blindly, he watched as Evan hesitantly picked up his phone, and endured shouting down his phone from Sydney who broke up with him before he had a chance too. He dropped it face down on the table. He was hurt too, but not as badly as Craig looked after he finished calling his family, explaining how he was staying in LA for a while and not to call him again.

Craig's trembling hands could barely keep the phone up to his ear. His words shook even worse than his hand. Once he put the phone down, he stayed head hung for a second before rising and moving quickly out of the room, making his excuses in a stagnated voice.

By the time everyone else was done, Brian was crying softly, tears rolling down his face while Brock gently patted his friend's shoulder trying to hold back his own. Lui was hugging the chip bowl tightly trying hard not to cry. Jonathan looked defeated and had taken Craig's spot in the chair. Evan wouldn't look at him, but gladly squeezed on the hand Jonathan offered him. David had left to help Craig and they had not come back yet.

Tyler was the only one who had not made the call. His head was now hung, his elbows on his knees and hands clasped. He was busy focusing on not throwing up, not crying his eyes out, and not loosing his shit.

He felt a hand stroke his back and knew straight away it was Craig. The gentle caress on his back forced a fat tear to break free from his squeezed-shut eye lids and onto his clamped fists.

"Tyler," came his friend's soothing voice. "Come on, we have to do this."

Tyler let out a shuddery breath, feeling as though everything was going to collapse if he moved.

"I was going to ask her to marry me," he said softly, slowly, his voice wavering wildly.

A sympathetic wave of noises hit Tyler's ears; he knew they were trying to be nice, but all the 'sorry's and 'that's rough' didn't make this new feeling of brittleness go away.

Evan crouched down in front of Tyler now, getting him to lift his head slowly to meet the dark eyes of his asian friend. Evan's eyes were watery too, bloodshot with lack of sleep, slightly red cheeks from drinking, and a deep sadness in his eyes. He took hold of Tyler's clasped hands in his, massaging them. Tyler couldn't look away from him.

"Tyler," he spoke finally. Tyler's face scrunched up holding back tears and lowered his head again.

"Tyler," Evan said again. Tyler shook his head no; he couldn't do this, not to her.

"This hurts because its real."

Tyler looked up, feeling tears spill over his cheeks. He was loosing it. Damn it, Evan.

"I thought…I would never find someone…like her," Tyler hiccuped gently through tears and voice cracks. He avoided the looks of everyone else, focusing just on Evan and his knees. "I-I can't…I don't… I don't want to…hurt her."

"If you don't break her heart now, you are just delaying the inevitable buddy," Evan kept rubbing his hands between his tenderly. "You're right, she's perfect. But if you don't do this, she will hurt even more later on."

Evan didn't need to say what he was insinuating. Tyler knew. The chances of their survival were slim. Five hundred men against nine of them, backed by a powerful business of blood and a corrupt government program. There was no way out. They knew they were fucked; there was no way of surviving this, and if they did, living with themselves afterwards would be impossible. Why else did Tyler break into Lui's wine cellar, come back up with four crates of beer much to Lui's protesting? Why else would he have drunk five beers that night? They were all drinking to forget their chances of survival. So Tyler had to throw everyone he cared about overboard while he went down with the ship.

So slowly, hand shaking, Tyler reached for his phone. Evan started to reach out and hand it to him, but Tyler's growl made him stop. He dialed Nikki's number, and held it to his ear. When she answered, Tyler let out a sob, but then held it together until while she asked what was going on, why he hadn't called, how the meeting went. Tyler lied.

The meeting went well; he was offered a job in LA, isn't that great? One catch - he had to move out her permanently; Could she come? No, this is why he called; this was him saying goodbye. What do you mean? I can't be in a relationship while I'm trying to figure out my new life her. Had he found someone else? Fuck no, you are perfect and I love you, but I need to focus on work. For how long? Two years maybe? She'll wait. Don't, you deserve better.

Tyler hung up. She didn't deserve what he would be after all this is over: a murderer. None of their girlfriends deserved to love people like them anymore.

Tyler put the phone face down on the table. No one smiled, no one said a word. They all just starred, avoiding one another's gazes as the looked at the circle of phones on the coffee table. One by one, they left the room, taking their phones with them, until only Tyler and Craig were left.

Craig was on the coach next to Tyler now, running his hand up and down Tyler's back as he drank the remnants of his beer. He reached for Tyler's but Tyler got their first, his hand shot out to grab the neck of the cool bottle, lifting it to his lips, and chugging the entire thing. When he finished he heard a small snort from Craig and looked at him. Craig was facing him, amused, his cheeks pink and the tips of his ears pink, eyes dropping from sleepiness.

"Rough night," was all he said. Tyler snorted too, and got up, reaching out a hand for Craig to take. Craig took it, rising drunkenly. Both men were in bad states, and the amount of alcohol now swirling in their stomachs was way too much.

"Rough morning," Tyler retorted, as the two stumbled out the living room, through the hall and past the stairs to their ground floor bedrooms.


	6. Chapter 5 - Dangerous

Lui couldn't sleep. His master bedroom on the second floor was the nicest of all the rooms in his house, but it wasn't as comfortable as it had been before. After tossing and turning a bit more, Lui swung his legs out of bed and sat on the edge, allowing his brain to stop spinning for a second before staggering towards his on suite bathroom. Flipping the light on, he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror.

He looked like shit. His usual stubble was starting to grow out, looking uneven and patchy. His eyes were developing shadows underneath them and the veins of blood in his eye were standing prominently. His hair which he had had cut only a few days ago was starting to grow out, and his bare chest was, once again, covered in too much hair. He looked away, and headed towards the toilet.

He was halfway through peeing when he realized he was going to throw up.

It smelt foul, and the after taste was even worse. He scrunched his nose as he flushed, then picked up his tooth brush and bottle of mouth wash to clean up.

He was flipping the light off in his bathroom when he heard a knock at the door. Staggering over, Lui opened the door to find Jonathan standing in the door. He was still wearing the same white, wrinkled shirt from earlier, and had thrown on his jeans again. He stood awkwardly, swaying slightly from being drunk still, a yawn just leaving.

"Hey Lui," he said, softly so as not to wake David or Evan, who had rooms just down the hall. "Can I come in?"

Lui nodded and he came in. Lui's room had black painted walls and four large floor-to-ceiling windows doubling as balcony doors faced the door to the hallway. Long white curtains were drawn across them to block out the light from outside. His bed was against the far wall, the headboard pressed against it, a large mirror hanging above it. To the right of the bed was his gaming set up, a large desk with two monitors, camera and microphone, black leather chair. To the left was the door leading to the bathroom, as well as several bookshelves, a small TV also with a recording set up, a leather coach and sueded dark bean bags. gray carpet covered the floor and a ceiling fan with lights handing from it took center of the ceiling. All over, it was a nice room which suited Lui's needs perfectly.

Jonathan collapsed into a bean bag while Lui went over to his desk, opening one of the doors of his draw to reveal a small mini fridge. He pulled out two Red Bulls, grunting softly at Jonathan who lifted his head up, registering the energy drink, then shot a hand up to catch the can that Lui threw his way. Lui collapsed on the beanbag, cracking open his can and taking a huge gulp of the energy drink before letting loose an energized sigh and threw his head back on the bean bag.

"That hit the fucking spot."

Jonathan had done the same thing. "You can say that again, fuck." He sat up from his spot on the coach, clutching his head with his hand. "Drinking all of that beer was a big fucking mistake."

Lui didn't move, but his smile faded slightly as he relived the events of earlier.

"I think it helped though."

Jonathan made a noise that sounded like a question.

"Being slightly fucked up kind of lessened the blow of what you were asking us to do. I mean, I probably would of said flat-out no if I had been sober, Tyler would of decked you."

Jonathan laughed. He rolled his head to look at Lui, who had sat up now and had his elbows resting on his knees.

"It was a long shot you guys would even do it. I was expecting maybe a few now, then more later." Jonathan shook his head looking down at Lui's coach, frowning slightly as he sort threw his sleep and alcohol muddled brain. "I'm relieved you all did it though, and impressed."

Lui kept looking at Jonathan. It was still hard for him to really come to terms that this was Delirious. Delirious, the guy who never showed his face, who always had post-it notes covering his camera incase it switched on by accident. The guy who always wore a mask in every game regardless of who it was or what the game was. Seeing his light blue-gray eyes reflecting what little was in the room, his lean but toned body relaxed on the coach, and hearing his voice come out of his own mouth face to face was unreal.

Jonathan had pulled his body up in a pull-up position to drink from the Red Bull can again before lying back down on the coach, facing the ceiling.

"I'm still having a hard time realizing it's you, man," Lui laughed after a minute, breaking the silence.

Jonathan laughed too. "What you mean?"

Lui smiled and scrunch his eyebrows together, putting his words together slowly.

"I mean like…we've been playing games for a long time together, and…I don't know man…it's just strange to suddenly put a face to the voice I've always heard."

Jonathan was smiling as he said this.

"…I guess it was about time for a face reveal, huh?" Jonathan laughed roughly at this, as did Lui. After a moment, the two fell into silence. It wasn't awkward anymore, they just felt content and a little sleepy. Lui was starting to get over the negative effects of the booze, and the Red Bull wasn't doing a damn thing to ward of his sleepiness.

"So, gotta ask," Lui grunted, sitting up. "You and Alexa…you a thing?"

Jonathan laughed again. His trademark laugh was so genuinely happy, and infectious.

"No no no…no we aren't dating." Jonathan said, looking up at the ceiling still.

"Alexa and I are like family. I've kinda watched her grow up in a way, ya' know? Like, she's twenty now, and I've been with her since she was sixteen. I was with her when she went to prom with her boyfriend, and when she had her big break up. I was with her when she graduated high school, I was with her when she went to college, and-" Jonathan stopped, uneasy all of sudden, but shook it off hoping Lui wouldn't notice. He did.

"Anyway, we've been through a lot together. I've been there for her and she's been there for me. I guess there were a few times we thought about it, but it would feel a little like incest," Jonathan joked and snickered as Lui threw a pillow at him hissing "gross."

"I'm serious though. We did think about it, but we just both felt like it wouldn't be right."

"So who was the guy she called tonight?" Lui asked.

"Andrew. He graduated from the same high school and the same college she went to and attended. She fell back on him about a year back, and those two have been - I don't know what it is, fucking I guess?" Jonathan shrugged, balancing his Red Bull on his stomach and watching it jerk up and down with his heart beat. "Either way, she knew this day would come, so kinda put off getting into something with him for a while."

Lui listened, nodding.

"What about you?" Lui asked, drinking. "Why didn't you call anyone?"

Jonathan sighed. Then finally spoke, but very slow, meaning in each word. "Because I broke my last relationship off due to a wild and crazy crush…"

Lui smiled. "Yeah, I get that. What's she like?"

Jonathan was silent, glancing at Lui with a question in his eyes, but Lui didn't notice. His head was knocked back drinking the rest of the Red Bull. So Jonathan turned back to the ceiling before speaking.

"Something else. The kinda person you wanna spend the rest of your life with, but are so scared that that life would become a drug you couldn't get out of. You'd fall so hard it would cut deep. Almost dangerous to love 'em, but you still do it."

Lui laughed. "You sure it isn't Alexa?"

Jonathan looked at him again.

"Sounds like her. She's dangerous, she's hot, and she seems like the kinda girl it would kill to leave."

Jonathan was silent, watching him. Before looking back up at the ceiling and saying low under his breath. "You're wrong Lui."

Lui heard it, and made a sound like a question as he swallowed his last gulp of Red Bull.

"Alexa has been through a lot of tough shit and came out the other end scared and callous. I'm surprised she came out with an actual sense of humor honestly."

"What do you mean?" Lui asked, frowning and tilting his head.

Jonathan sighed. Lui caught on; he was invading her privacy. Jonathan was her best friend, and there was something very dark about Alexa - about both of them - that he didn't want to say. So Lui shut up, while he was dying to know what it was. He got up casually and offered to take Jonathan's can. He took another sip before handing it to Lui, who trashed both before sitting back down.

"What time is it?"

Lui checked his phone. No new texts from Rachel. She didn't want to talk to him after what he did.

"It's four."

"Fuck." Jonathan pulled himself up and stretched, before heading towards the door. Lui following him.

"Hey man, sorry for prying about you and Alexa," Lui apologized before Jonathan opened the door. The taller guy looked at him. His blue eyes were kind, and his slight smile told him not to worry.

"I mean, you didn't know. Maybe one day I'll tell you, or maybe Alexa will. She seems to like you, so she may. But don't push it, okay?" Jonathan spoke. He ran a hand through his hair before he spoke again. "You were right about one thing. She is dangerous. Very. And she's the kinda person to put everything on the line. She will say it's 'cause she has nothing to loss, but that's half the truth. That's a story she's gotta tell herself," and with that, Jonathan pulled open Lui's bedroom door, smiled a thank you, then closed it behind him.

Lui stood there, running over what Jonathan just said: "she is dangerous." What could that mean? Was she so dangerous he had to worry about sleeping down the hall from her? That he had to be nice to her in the kitchen in case she took at knife to him? Or was it something else?

Lui crawled back into his bed, lying in the center of it. He felt a little lonely, and a little scared. Jonathan and Alexa were hard. He knew they were hard when they came busting through their hotel room door, machine guns blazing. He knew they were hard when Alexa took them on a wild car chase. He knew they were hard when Alexa did the knife trick from Alien with a carving knife, when she broke into the wine cellar with Tyler by picking the lock, when Jonathan chugged an entire beer by balancing the nose in his mouth and not using his hands. When they made the others break up with their girlfriends and goodbye to their families, and none of them shed a tear.

Lui shivered; he couldn't help but think this was what they wanted them to be.

And at the same time, Lui was almost too excited to wait.


	7. Chapter 6 - One Hundred Percent

It wasn't exactly an appetizing smell that was hitting Evan's nose from his snuggly spot in the double bed he had woken up in yesterday. It was kind of burnt…a mixture of burnt toast, over cooked squash, and something kind of like raw egg. It coated the back of Evan's throat with a thick layer of nasty, making him gag himself awake. Holding a hand up to his nose, he got out of bed, pulled a shirt on and sweat pants, then made his way downstairs, stumbling a little as he tried to balance. His hangover was killer.

As Evan descended the stairs, Craig was leaning against the doorway, looking towards the kitchen which was directly in front of the hallway to his bedroom and the staircase. Craig looked how Evan felt; disheveled, hungover, and sleepy. However the excited and maniac look in his eye as he glanced at Evan and waved his arms madly to stop him from moving told him something was up.

Then he heard the screaming.

"What the FUCK is THAT, David?" Alexa's high pitched screech broke the silent air. Craig collapsed against the frame of his door, bent fucking double as he laughed silently. Evan was laughing silently too. She was pissed.

"That smells worse than the ass-end of a newborn baby!"

"It's fucking breakfast don't fucking knock it!" Came David's reply, yelling with equal strength. Craig was whipping tears from his face, scrambling to get up as Evan bounded down the stairs, headache forgotten, to watch the fiasco unfolding in Lui's Mediterranean style kitchen.

"Knock it?" Came the screeching reply of Alexa. "It knocked it's bucket over a billion fucking years ago!"

Evan swung into the doorway followed closely by Craig. The kitchen was well light, with large windows looking out onto green bushes and yellow and white flowers with white sheer curtains lining the top. The kitchen itself looked like it was built for entertaining, but was instead condemned for living. White wood counters with glossy sandstone tops lined the walls of half the room. In the center was an island with a bowl of fruit, a coffee pitcher steaming, milk, and a bottle of ibuprofen. It looked like Alexa's work. Alexa must of left the room to get more milk - a new cartoon of milked had been furiously slammed onto the counter by the door - and David took over. David must of taken everything out of the fridge and used it all because he had so much stuff surrounding the stove he was now standing defensively in front of.

"Ya' just jealous because ya' can't cook good shit like this!" David shouted back.

Alexa put on a look of disbelief.

"Well excuse me Gorden Ramsy, but that smells like you're cooking yesterday's roadkill."

"It's an Irish dish, don't be fucking racist!"

"That dish is assaulting more people than the fucking police!"

Evan and Craig were clutching their sides, leaning against the large archway that lead from hallway to kitchen. Behind them, they could hear footsteps and mumbles of "what the fuck is going on," and Tyler and Brock soon joined them, staring wide eyed into the room. Evan's eyes were starting to sting, but he couldn't tell if it was from the laughter or from the stove. Brock elbowed him, getting him to turn, Evan hiccuping slightly from laughing so much.

"Why is Alexa screaming about police?"

Evan chocked on his words, but got them out eventually. "David…is…cooking…breakfast!" Evan gasped for air as he caught sight of Craig, who was just sitting on the floor with a face redder than the red shirt he was wearing.

"Oh fuck that makes sense," Brock agreed, laughing. "I don't know how he does it, but he makes water inedible. Pretty sure his cooking could bring you back from the dead."

"Don't you fucking start too you, you shrimp dick fuck!" David shouted, pointing a wooden spoon with gray ooze dripping off the end of it. A particularly large bit of ooze fell of the spoon as it hung in the air while David shouted, the drip landing on the floor with a loud squelching sound and almost bouncing after making contact with the floor. When it did settle, the substance rocked around for a moment before finally coming to rest.

The four guys in the door collapsed into fits of giggles and shrieks of disgust.

"It's fucking ALIVE" Brock gasped for air, leaning on Evan who was still somehow standing, despite his legs shaking from laughter.

"Yeah and it will bite you're fucking balls off!" David snarled.

"Whatever the FUCK you're cooking up in that witching pot of yours," Alexa shouted over the noise, turning back to David. She wasn't as angry as before now that she was giggling, and her attempts to cover it Evan could see were not working. "It can go to the back of the fridge where it belongs!" And with that, and a wooden spoon being thrown around by David and dodged by Alexa, the weird "Irish" dish was discarded.

Evan was brewing coffee for everyone when Lui came down, rubbing his eyes. He grabbed a mug, downed half of it's contents, and patted Evan on the back as a way of thanking him.

"Where's Jonathan?" Evan asked, looking out towards the staircase as if expecting to see Jonathan's slim silhouette descending.

"I think he's still asleep; his door is closed," Lui shrugged and went to sit with David who promptly began to whine to him about how mean everyone is to him.

Someone else came up behind him and took a mug of coffee. Alexa.

"Jonathan spends pretty much every night I've known him not sleeping," she said low so only Evan would hear her. She had an elbow placed on his shoulder and was leaning precariously against him, drinking her coffee. Evan glanced her.

"What is he doing?" Evan asked.

"Most of the time he's editing a video or playing a solo game, but sometimes he's watching one of your guys' videos or just staring at nothing."

Evan was silent, filling up the last mug before handing it to Alexa to deliver.

"What time does he usually get up then?"

"Sunshine should be joining us around one-ish? Anyway, it's just you and me running training today."

"Training?" Evan faltered. He was carrying for mugs in his hands. One for himself, one for Brock, one for Brian, and one for Tyler. Alexa had hers, David's, and Lui's. Evan hadn't made coffee for Jonathan since he was still knocked out upstairs.

"Yeah," Alexa smiled sweetly, cocking her head to one side like she had done so many times before. Evan was starting to realize he shouldn't trust her when she smiled like that; that was the smile she flashed when she broke into Lui's wine cellar, the smile she flashed when they first met in the alley before she killed eight people.

"Basic defense. How to hold and shoot a gun, parts of a gun, some hand-to-hand combat, then fitness testing so I can see who needs work on what: cardio, strength, endurance, the works." She threw this mater of factly at him as she spun on her heels to give the coffee mugs to a still sulky David and a grinning Lui.

"Thanks" coursed through the room, but Evan was too busy thinking what Alexa was going to do them in this "training" she was talking about. He didn't trust that smile very much, so whatever plan she had, Evan already knew it wasn't going to be pretty.

Breakfast had been at nine, and everyone had a "mandatory" meeting in the Lui's in-house gym at ten. The gym was small, mainly because of all the exercise equipment shoved in, but big enough to fit the eight of them. On one side of the room was a wall covered entirely with a mirror. Then on the wall facing the door back out to the hallway were windows, floor to ceiling with a door access to the pool and jacuzzi. In a corner of the room were two bench presses, a treadmill, and a pull up bar. There were weights stacked in the corner created by the door and mirror wall, a boxing bag hung in the opposite corner near the door leading outside. LED lights light the room with a soft but intense white light. The room felt energizing, and in total the gym was really nice. Evan was impressed when he and the rest of the guys came wandering in one by one after breakfast and changing into more suitable workout clothes. Alexa, who was already in the gym, hadn't changed. "I just sleep in workout clothes and I work out in pajamas, so no big deal."

The gym, before the four hour intensive workout, was neat and sparklingly clean. It looked like the kind of gym you would see in Pottery Barn magazines. But now plastic water bottles, mismatched shoes, discarded shirts, gun shells, and even a first aid kit had filled what little space was in the room. To add to it, the stench of sweaty men and gun smoke was something not even the febrile air freshener Alexa was spying generously into the air OR the open windows Lui had opened after hitting the one hour mark was doing anything to stop the smell.

Evan's body hurt a hurt he was not accustomed too; it was a painful sensation, like thousands of knives had been stuck into his body, had grown accustomed to them, and now they hurt bitterly whenever he or the knives moved. As a result, Evan sat hunched over on the end of a benchpress closest to the window. Tyler was still lying prostrate on the benchpress next to Evan, panting. Brian and Craig were lying face up on the floor breathing heavily, Lui was leaning against the mirror wall drinking from his water bottle intermittently. David was still able to stand somehow, and was standing in the window allowing the cool afternoon breeze to cool him down. Alexa was gone.

After almost ten minutes of panting and silence, Craig finally called from the floor "Is it just me…or…do you guys…feel…like your dying?"

There was a unanimous groan from everyone.

Tyler tried to sit up, but swore profusely at the pain in his abs and lay back down.

"Was she trying to fucking kill us?" Tyler whined. Evan snorted.

"She succeeded," Brock retorted.

Silence again, and David slumped down in the doorway to the pool outside.

"I'm not moving again until tomorrow," David declared, rising a rough laugh from everyone. They were all in the same boat.

The workout had started with Alexa giving a pep talk.

"So, welcome to Alexa's Bootcamp, ladies," she teased, twirling a pistol around her finger like a toy, pacing in front of the standing group. "Today, I will work you hard. I will ask you all to do stuff that will hurt, that will sting, that will bruise, scrap, and cut up your body. But you aren't gonna get stronger by half-assing what we're doing today." She continued her slow pace, not making eye contact. "This will be run like an army style bootcamp. Twenty push ups for bad behavior for everyone, twenty push ups if you take a break when it's not break time, twenty push ups if you sass me-" she glanced meaningfully at Tyler and David. David went to say something, but the sliding of metal against metal as she readied her gun shut him up. "If you work hard, play nice, and stick to the schedule, we'll be done in no time."

Now she stopped, and looked around at the guys in front of her. They had all dressed similarly: shorts, sneakers, plain tank top or shirt. Evan had a dark navy shirt on with black shorts, since it was the only workout gear he had brought to LA.

"Understood?"

There was a spattering of "yes" and nods. That didn't work well for her at all.

She stopped, frowning.

"Sorry, but since when did ANY bootcamp allowing a simple 'yes'" Alexa made air quotations around the word 'yes'. "You say 'yes ma'm' or you don't say anything, because there will be a gun in your mouth and I will be pulling the trigger." Evan didn't know if that threat was legitimate or not.

"So let's try that again. Today, I will work you hard. I will ask you all to do stuff that will hurt, that will sting, that will bruise, scrap, and cut up your body. But you aren't gonna get stronger by half-assing what we're doing today. Understood?"

"YES MA'M" the frightened response of the boys was exactly what she wanted. Alexa smiled her sweat little smile and Evan felt his stomach drop; this was going to be everything she promised.

"Great. Let's get started. Now, twenty push ups for me having to explain my damn self."

The boys got down on the floor and did their twenty.

Not what she wanted.

"What did you not understand about 'army style'?" Alexa asked, stopping them in the middle of their routine. Evan was still very aware of the gun she had in her hand. She made eye contact with each of them, staring them down individually.

"You've all seen what I can do with a gun…" she trailed off, the gun still readied in her hand. She brought it up, pointing it between Craig's hands which were still planted on the floor. "I don't want to pull a trigger on any of you, so let's start again. You get in trouble TOGETHER, so you do your push ups TOGETHER. You guys are a family; start acting like one. Now drop and give me twenty the way I want it this time."

Evan dropped with the rest and shouted out the number of each push up with the rest as well. When they finished, Alexa's smile made him shiver.

"Now we're in business."

Alexa had them do stretching first off, then push ups, crunches, squats, and pull ups, all of rotating between the four.

After an hour of that, it was dead lifts, going up in weight with every ten sets and stopping when you "maxed out" as she put it. But really, it was when she had to intervene and take the weight from you. Thirty minutes of that.

Next was the guns. She had set up empty bottles outside of the gym, split the boys up into practicing shooting cans off of a wooden table she'd dragged from the pool side and punching the boxing bag. Thirty minutes of that, then a short break.

Sparing was for the next hour, rising in difficulty after every ten minutes or so. How to perform a good jab, how to not break your thumb when punching, learning where your feet should be placed. Alexa covered every detail. Then she got them sparing one another while they waited to spare with her. She decked them all, of course.

And finally, the last hour was a speed round of everything they had done before. Guns, sparing, muscles, cardio, everything. When her timer went of every fifteen minutes they would collapse into five minute breaks; every time they returned to workouts it was harder than the last. Once it was over, Alexa didn't bother making them get up, she just threw more waters at them, debriefed and congratulated them, then took the guns to put away, leaving them where they were now.

Evan tried to stand now, his legs wobbling slightly. Tyler watched him, envious.

"Dude how the fuck can you stand up?" Tyler asked, wide eyed.

Evan snorted. "It's painful just to do that," he replied, as he went over to the boxing bag to pick up his shirt. He leaned against the cool leather for to calm the fire in his legs. That was when Alexa walked back in with and arm full of white towels and Jonathan, who caught sight of Evan and smiled apologetically at him.

Jonathan looked around the room and laughed.

"Jeez Alexa, what the fuck did you do to these guys?" He asked, laughing as he turned to look at the small girl next to him. Jonathan had on black shorts and a similar white top, also with no shoes. Alexa was still in the same workout stuff.

"Just a little basic workout. I went easy on them," she shrugged, grinning her sweet mischievous grin. Evan and the others groaned, loudly. She'd been a dick to them pretty much this entire time, and while they understood, it didn't stop Evan and the others from being a little annoyed.

Craig rolled over to look up at Alexa.

"Basic?" Was all he could manage, and groaned when she nodded, her smile spreading across her face and pulling a laugh out of her.

"Listen guys…I'm sorry I worked you so hard."

Evan watched her. She did actually seem apologetic.

"I wanted to push you guys today, and maybe I pushed a couple of you too far. I'm more than impressed with you all, and I have a good feeling about you guys. I think we've made some really good progress today." Her smile was not her mischievous one, but a truly thankful and genuine one. Alexa clutched the towels in arms in a tight squeeze for a second.

"Anyway," she started, before tossing a wad of towel at Craig.

"Best way to cool off and loosen muscles is to get in water, so…" Jonathan started before being hit in the face with a towel by Alexa.

"Last one in the pool does dishes!" She cried and ran out the door, whipping off her gray shorts and white top to reveal a black two piece bikini underneath, and cannonball into the pool. The scramble of bodies when they heard those words was loud and chaotic, and everyone rushed outside to the pool except for Evan and Jonathan, who stood laughing. Splashes and laughed echoed outside as the guys collapsed into the pool and shouted abuse at one another, Alexa's higher pitched voice joining in with the chaos.

Evan turned to Jonathan, who was approaching him.

"You won't be needing that," Jonathan smirked, plucking Evan's sweaty shirt out of his hand and tossing it to the floor. Evan smiled back.

"Did you sleep in because you knew what she was going to do?"

"Oh hell yeah," Jonathan's eyes widened as he faked a scared look. "I know what she's capable of, and she doesn't take any prisoners. Never has."

Jonathan and Evan looked outside. A game of Chicken was getting started, Brian and Craig teaming up against Tyler and Alexa and Lui and Brock while David acted as referee, all of them swearing at one another in an attempt to psych one another out.

Jonathan smirked at Evan, while Jonathan pulled off his own shirt.

"So you're doing dishes then?" Jonathan asked, as he started to back out the door.

"I so am not," Evan called, pulling off his shirt as he went after him.

Evan made a grab for his arm, but missed, Jonathan stepping out of his way and causing Evan to momentarily loose his balance, his legs still shaky.

Their short chase ended with Evan tumbling into the pool last amidst laughter and applause for Jonathan's quick escape; Evan was doing the dishes.


	8. Chapter 7 - The Double-Stone Option

Jonathan was following Lui around his house, looking carefully at every part of the house. When he had asked Lui to tour him around after lunch, he had agreed, but was a little confused as to why. Even when Jonathan had told him why - fortification - Lui was still confused. Jonathan walked slowly around the house with Lui leading him, the question still in his eyes, explaining anything Jonathan wanted to know about the place. It had been a week since all of the guys had piled into Lui's house after the forced sign-up, and Jonathan was starting the feel worried about their vulnerability. Defense was pretty necessary, considering how many people were in the program now, and Jonathan didn't want any of his friends to get hurt.

It wasn't until they got into the main hall did Jonathan notice the closet. The front door opened into a pretty hallway, with a wrap around staircase that led to the gym and gaming room upstairs. Through an arch way, you could see the kitchen, dinning room, sitting room, and the beginnings of the staircase that led to the bedrooms, or spare rooms. Lui, Jonathan, and Alexa had converted them once they got the first group of four into the house safely.

"What's in here?" Jonathan asked, nodding his head towards the closet. Lui turned to see what Jonathan was looking it.

"That?" Lui came over to where Jonathan was standing in front of the door. "Closet. I use it to store shoes and jackets and shit."

Jonathan pushed open the closet door to reveal a small space, probably a eight by stuffed with jackets and shoes. There was a hanger on one side of the closet, a pile of shoes in a far corner, and a bar lightbulb attached to the ceiling. The quick surveillance was enough to make Jonathan smile. This was the perfect little room for what he wanted.

"This is so fucking small," Jonathan laughed. He made his way in to the closet, smiling as he stretched out his arms measuring it's space. "Almost as fucking small as you or Alexa," Jonathan grinned, glancing at Lui.

Lui's face folded into a frown. "Shut the fuck up Alexa is smaller than me. She's like three fucking ounces."

"Thee fucking ounces of whoop ass stop talking shit!" the feminine voice of Alexa echoed from the game room upstairs. Of course she had been listening, Alexa had ears like a hawk. Jonathan laughed hard before turning back to Lui and the small room.

"So why did you want a room like this?"

"Because…" Jonathan walked from one side of the room to the other, trying to see how much walking space there was. Not like it would really matter, he just needed to look like he was thinking. Jonathan already knew what he wanted to do with the room, but to get Lui on board, he would need to make it seem as if he was less sure about his plan.

"Because we need to create a surveillance room. A room we can watch every inch of this house and guard."

Jonathan turned to Lui, who's eyes were squinted in thought and uncertainty.

"With five hundred Renegades and over fifteen big businesses breathing down our backs, we need every kinda of protection we can get."

Lui still didn't look convinced. Jonathan sighed, and shoved his hands into his pockets in desperation. He needed Lui on board with this, it was his house after all.

"Lui, I'm not going to lie, this will be expensive. But the more time we spend in this game, the bigger the targets we will become. We're all we have right now, and I want to protect my family more than anything."

That sold him. Lui sighed and nodded. He looked around the room. "So what you planning?"

Jonathan smiled, turning and raising his hands to form a rectangle, closing one eye as he envisioned the new surveillance system.

"Well, we are gonna need monitors, but my guess four. Attach them to walls, with a central computer…maybe a laptop…to control all the cameras. Go Pros I'm thinking since they're pretty fucking sturdy…gonna need to run cable throughout the entire house too."

"Whoa whoa whoa," Lui stopped him, and Jonathan turned. Lui was smiling, but not because he liked the plan.

"That's a lot of money you're talking about there, Jonathan. Money I don't know if I'm willing to spend on this."

Jonathan nodded. He had guessed this would happen.

"That's partly why we're doing this heist. We need to get our crew out there, get the name, Renegades, out there, yes. But come on Lui, did you really think we are hitting up a jewelry store WITHOUT grabbing money and jewels?"

Lui thought for a second, and nodded, jutting out his lower lip as he did so. Then he smirked.

"As long as you don't tell my mom," Lui squeaked in his squeaker voice. Jonathan laughed hard and Lui chuckled. Jonathan hadn't heard that voice for a long time, and it was good to hear something so familiar like Lui's squeaker voice.

Jonathan straightened up and sighed, controlling himself. "What time is it?"

Lui pulled out his phone. "Eleven thirty."

"Let's go drag Evan and Alexa out then,"

Evan was sitting in the passenger seat of the white van Alexa was driving when they pulled up the opposite side of the jewelry store. The place, a modern white building with large glass windows tinted slightly and palm trees outside, was called "Le Box" and looked just like one too. Shoppers passed by on their phones or walking small dogs in the hot afternoon sun of LA, and Evan felt out of place sitting in the air conditioned car watching this jewelry shop.

Alexa threw the car into park, picked up the white leather bag that matched her white jeans and white four inch heels and pulled down the mirror to apply a coat of pale lipstick. Both of them had changed quickly; Evan only needed to put on a button down and the glasses, and Alexa had only to slip on heels since the two had been dressed before they left. In the back, Lui and Jonathan opened up the laptops, connecting their earpieces to the device and beginning to record. Lui gave them a thumbs up as Jonathan put on his own head set and mic.

Evan stepped out of the car, closing the door behind him and walking around to Alexa. In her tall heels, she came up to his chin, perfect height for wrapping an arm around her waist, which he did. Evan adjusted his pair of fake reading glasses, switching on the embedded camera so the men in the car got a constant feed. Jonathan's voice came through, a purr in Evan's ear.

"I've got eyes now. Act natural kids, you've just gotten engaged, shopping around for rings. Act in love!"

"We got this," Alexa purred into the small microphone of Evan's glasses as she leaned in close to Evan, planting a kiss on his cheek. Evan smiled and looked down at her, biting his lip trying to stop himself from laughing. It was funny the two of them were chosen to be the decoys, neither of them minded, but looking down at the small girl who could bench press his own weight and assemble an automatic pistole blindfolded - he'd watched her do that - acting dainty and rich was just too good. Evan stifled a laugh, catching it in his throat. Alexa also caught her laugh too, composing herself, pinching him and hissing "laugh as we enter the door," before reaching for the handle.

Evan beat her too it though, pulling the door open and laughing at her surprised look. He ushered her in, looked around the room, giving Jonathan a good survey of the store before moving to join Alexa who was already at the desk.

"Hello and welcome to Le Box, importers and designers of the best jewelry in Los Angeles. How may I help you?" The lady serving Alexa was a young brunette with impossible straight teeth and a white button down with one too many buttons open. Evan examined some of the rings in the display case letting his "fiancé" do the talking.

"Hello," she bubbled, her voice higher than usual and far more sugary then her usual tone. Evan bite the inside of his lip. "We're ring shopping. He proposed to me in Paris two weeks ago when we went for my birthday," she nudged him gently with her hip, grabbing his attention. Evan was already pulling her to his side for a quick kiss. It was like being back with Sydney again.

"Well, as you can see, we've got a wide range of jewels for you to choose from. Our most popular rings are the silver solo-stones. The stones are cut in one of nine styles and set onto a geometric base with an engraving on the inside. Or we can give you that same option in gold, only with less stone choice."

The lady behind the desk turned her attention to Evan, giving him a once-over that set Evan's skin crawling. "Your choice," she winked slightly, before going back to Alexa.

"Remember, Ev. You're engaged. No looking, no flirting, got it?" Lui's voice reminded him warily.

"Easier said than done," Evan sighed as he turned around, leaning on the case slightly to look at the ceiling. It was a glass ceiling, steam rising slightly out of the corner of the sky light. Evan squinted. "Jonathan, you see that?"

"Yeah. Means there is a ventilation system up there…" Jonathan's voiced trailed off. The line went dead suddenly, and Evan touched his earpiece trying to get the signal back. No luck. He turned back to Alexa to see she had got the women to take out several sets of gold colored ring choices.

"What do you think, honey?" She cooed. Evan glanced at the wings, he could see she was on the verge of cracking too. "Fit for your princess?"

Evan caught his laugh quickly and smiled at Alexa, making direct eye contact. "Maybe something with a little more silver?" Alexa got the hint: cut it out with so much yucky love-iness; he was going to die laughing otherwise. She smiled sweetly and nodded looking back towards the lady behind the desk. "Yeah, maybe a little more silver."

As the lady moved away to get the silver rings, Evan leaned down to her ear, pulling her close to make it look as they they were in the middle of an intimate moment. "The wire is dead. I have no connection with Lui and Jonathan."

"I know. My wire is dead too."

"What do we do? Do we leave or continue with the plan?"

"Stick with the plan. Whatever we do, we need to gather all the information we can before tomorrow night. If we don't, it could make the difference between life or death for some — oh baby these are absolutely beautiful!" Alexa's quick switch snapped Evan out of their discussion and back into their mission. A line of silver rings had been placed on the glass reflective table, and Evan could see both his and Alexa's reflections in them. Her mouth was open in awe as she gazed over them. Evan's breath caught in his throat as he looked over them; they were amazing.

Alexa reached out to touch one daintily, a band with two shades of silver: the first shade was a light, almost white shade outlining the ring, while a dark shade of silver carved an intricate wave pattern through engraving and cut outs. Small blue highlights were noticeable on the ring too.

"This is our 'LA Summer' ring. Specifically designed for those who have a deep connection with the ocean or the beaches of LA," Desk lady smiled a straight smile as Evan and Alexa stared at it. Evan could tell she wanted it; if they were actually engaged, maybe he would get it for her. He continued to stare at the ring, but noticed something in the glass reflection of the counter top.

"How much?"

Alexa's head jerked up slightly to look at him. This wasn't part of the plan, Evan knew. He wasn't supposed to actually buy one, just browse and take photos.

"All our rings start at 5k. We offer multiple personalizations, and depending on which options you take, the price will change."

Alexa tugged on his arm gently and got him to turn his head. "Honey it's lovely but you I don't want you spending that much on me. Save it for the wedding or the honeymoon."

Evan starred at her a second, hoping she would get his hint.

It took her a moment, but eventually she glanced down at the glass table with the rings. Only she wasn't looking at the rings; the glass on the table was reflective, so reflective you could see the two figures on the roof running passed the sky light so as not to be seen.

"What personalization options are there?" Evan asked, looking back to the desk lady as Alexa starred at the "rings" on the glass reflective table. Once the lady moved away, Evan moved a hand up to his ear.

"Jonathan, where are you buddy?"

No answer. Alexa bit her lip anxiously.

"We have to get the information we need. Can you take pictures on your glasses?"

Alexa nodded, kissed him on the cheek, and left to wander the store. The desk lady was coming back, and Evan leaned on the glass display with a slight smile playing on his face. Distraction, that's what he was. Man candy. At least he knew he could do it well.

"So what options do I have?" Evan asked, a flirty smile tugging on his lips.

The desk lady blushed, glancing at Alexa who was busy looking through a display of earrings.

"Well," she began, tucking her hair behind her ear. "You have an engraving option, which allows you to choose a special message for the wearer. You can also have stones implanted on the rims of the ring if you wish. Or," the desk lady closed up her book. She was not longer glancing at Alexa, just focused on him. Perfect.

"You could choose the double stone option."

Evan leaned slightly closer. "Care to explain the double stone option in more detail?"

The lady was blushing hard, and her smile was clearly one of enjoyment.

"Well, it's not a very common thing, however some buyers do like to have options in their choice of stones. Instead of committing to one color, you can choose two of significant value or meaning, and pay only a slightly raised fee."

Fuck if this wasn't obvious flirting at it's finest, Evan was an idiot. This girl was so desperate for him he was almost blushing in embarrassment for her.

"Tell me, if all your rings start at 5k, how expensive can I expect my ring to be?"

"For the two stone option, it would raise the price by a few grand. However for you, it would be free of charge."

Evan kept their intimate position a little while longer until he heard the footsteps of Alexa approach behind him. Evan straightened then, feeling the slim hand of Alexa wrap around him.

"Did you see some nice things, honey?"

"Yes I did. This is a simply wonderful store, wouldn't you agree?"

Evan glanced back at the girl. "Yes I do."

"Let's go then. We have to be back home soon for dinner with my parents," Alexa widened her eyes as she said "parents" and Evan didn't need to get the hint a second time. It was time to call it off; they had what they needed.

"Hold on a moment."

Evan and Alexa turned around. Desk lady was holding out a business card for Evan, who took it, slightly confused.

"In case you wanted the 'double gem' special I told you about earlier," desk lady smiled.

Evan smiled, taking her card, before leading Alexa and he out and into the car. Alexa threw off her glasses, slammed the car into gear and drove around to the opposite end of the block, cussing the whole way.

"What the fuck did they think they were doing, dancing around up there?" Alexa swore.

"I'm sure there is a good reason. Jonathan wouldn't just do that on a whim, you know that."

"I know he's a jackass who does stupid shit because he can," Alexa huffed, making a sharp left turn. "I mean, come on, I just wanted to cover for you, not his ass too!"

"There is a ventilation outlet above the store. More than likely he and Lui were going to check it out. I think we can excuse him for just this once."

Alexa parked, switching off the ignition and glancing in her rear view mirror before looking at Evan, a hard look in her eye.

"Whatever shit you were pulling with desk-whore back there, you can't do that again."

Evan starred at her. "You needed a distraction. She would have called you out as suspicious if I didn't become the man-candy you needed."

"That's not what I'm talking about Ev."

Evan was caught off guard. He was ready to defend himself against everything and anything Alexa could throw at him. Except what she said next.

"Did you like her? Did you think she was pretty?"

Evan starred. He couldn't believe this was coming out of her mouth. Alexa watched him carefully, recording every slight movement in his face.

"No…no that wasn't it all Lex…are you saying you like me?"

"Don't be ridiculous," Alexa rolled her eyes and looked down at her steering wheel. What she was saying wasn't easy, and Evan could see the battle taking place in her head.

"Did you love her?"

"I just met her how could I tell if-"

"Not her, Sydney."

"What does Sydney have anything to do with this?"

"Did you love Sydney?"

"Why does it matter if I loved Sydney when-"

"Do you love Sydney?"

"It doesn't fucking matter!"

"Do you love Sydney, yes or no?"

"Yes okay? I did. I fucking did. Then I left for fucking LA and got forced into this stupid fucking program and she dumped me the night I tried to break up with her. I called her, I emailed her, and texted her, no response. I fucking loved Sydney with all my heart, okay? Is that what you want to fucking hear?" Evan exploded in Alexa's face. He bubbled over with rage and anger, and hated how suddenly it all came spilling forth and how calm Alexa's fucking face was.

"I loved Sydney so much it hurt to leave her even for a day or so. I don't care if she felt the same way about me or not. I don't care if she's moved on and found another guy already. But I still loved her, and I'm still in love with the memories of her. Is that what you want? A fucking confession?" Evan asked more calmly, but still bitter. Alexa was still calm, leaning on the steering while watching him closely.

Evan hit his head against the back of the seat and kept it there. He could hear the faint voices of Jonathan and Lui as they neared the car, quickly.

"Why do you ask?"

Alexa was silent, watching the boys run towards the car at a leisurely fast jog, not meeting Evan's questioning eyes.

"Because love will get you killed…and I don't want to loose both of my best friends."

With that, the van door was pulled open, slammed shut, gas puddle punched, and the car lurched into the busy streets of Rodeo Drive, heading for home. Jonathan and Lui laughed as Evan and Alexa chastised them for dropping them in the darkness, but Evan smiled when Jonathan told them both good job.

"And especially good job on being man-candy, Evan. Quick thinking," Jonathan winked. Evan smile and brushed off the compliment with a laugh, catching his eye in the rearview mirror.

"Do what I do best, right?"

"I'll say."

The car laughed, and Evan noticed Jonathan's eyes linger a millisecond longer on him before turning away again.

It clicked. Evan didn't move for several moments, allowing the conversation to move straight past him as he processed what just happened. And when he turned to Alexa, he knew it was true. Her questions, her anger at his flirting, why he was part of the bait with Alexa, it all made sense. She wasn't looking at him, focused on the road, but Evan didn't need her approval to know what had just happened.

Jonathan had a crush on him.

And Evan had completely missed it until now.


	9. Chapter 8 - The Rodeo Heist

The hot water of the shower was enough to wake Brock up, and he was grateful for having the foresight to set the alarm on his phone for midnight instead of the mandatory one wake up call. Evan had run over the plan with all of them the night before: a hit and run mission taking place at Le Box, a jewelry store in Rodeo Drive Evan and Alexa had staked out only two days ago. They would hit the jewelry store for three, be out of there within thirty minutes, and heading out towards the "safe house," a small ranch house Jonathan knew of in the Santa Monica mountains; after camping out there for three to five days, they would return to base. Jonathan also added this would give the Renegades program enough time to cover damages, suppress the press, and make sure the whole thing blew over.

Brock hit the shower off, the absence of the warm water leaving him shivering until he dried off. The bathroom was small, but decorated, with a frosted glass shower, a small closet for the toilet, a spacious countertop with a sink - now covered in the aftershave and other productions four men sharing a bathroom needed - and a mirror spanning the length of the countertop. Brock wrapped his towel around his waist and padded across the brown tiles to the countertop where he left the "little gift" Evan had given all of them last night: vaseline.

Evan's words resounded in his head as he unscrewed the tub and rubbed some onto his fingers. "Vaseline will cover up your tracks. You will have gloves of course, but we don't want any kind of prints being left behind. Use this generously, okay? Last thing we need is to be traced by our finger prints. We're already being traced by the barcodes and we don't need any extra publicity.

A gentle knock shook Brock out of his thoughts.

"Can I come in?" An Irish voice pleaded, sleepily.

"Yeah."

Brian's sleep-deprived form stumbled into the bathroom, giving him a once over before closing the door behind him and stumbling to towards the toilet.

"You're up early," he yawned. Brock smiled.

"Didn't want to have to fight for a shower, you know?"

"Makes sense." Brian hadn't closed the door and Brock could all too easily hear the sound of Brian peeing.

"Dude, decency much?" He laughed, glancing over towards the toilet cubicle. The door was wide open, and Brian's swaying figure was visible standing over the toilet.

"We're all dudes here. I'll bet money Alexa has a dick underneath her shorts anyway."

Brock laughed. He went back to spreading the vaseline generously over the hands, fingers, and lower arms. Brian appeared in the mirror next to him, watching him.

"Shit I don't wanna do that," he whine, pouting as he swung around and stumbled towards the shower.

"You want me to do it for you?" Brock asked, half jokingly, half serious.

"If you're offering, then yes please Brocky."

Brock blushed and turned back around. It didn't help, he could still see Brian in the mirror, his muscles flexing as he turned the tightly closed taps into the on position. He sprayed himself with a blast of cold and jumped backwards, yelping slightly. Brock laughed hard.

Brian whipped his now soaking wet hair up as though he was in a hair commercial, eyes bright and wide awake and a crazy smiled spread across his face. He whooped, laughing at his stupidity.

"Wow! That woke me up!" He near shouted. Brock shushed him through gasps for air.

"You splashed me with you hair spray you jerk-off," Brian swore, still laughing as he threw a hand towel at him.

Brian laughed and bounced over to Brock, shaking his hair in his face while Brock tried to push him away, both laughing like idiots.

"I'm gonna rub vaseline in your stupid hair if you don't stop it," Brock threatened, pulling one hand free to threaten Brian with. Brian grabbed it and forced it away from his own hair. The two pushed against each other, still giggling. Brock backed off after a second, standing there looking down slightly at Brian, still smiling like a crazy person.

"You think you're ready for today?" Brian asked finally, breaking the silence.

Brock nodded. "Are you?"

Brian nodded, grinning. But it fell away after a second.

"Just, promise me one thing? Don't get hurt. Please?"

Brock smiled. He brushed a strand of hair out of Brian's face with the back of his hand, making both of them grin. They broke away after that, but a laugh made Brock glance in the mirror to look at him. Brian was holding up a white towel, and Brock instantly realized why he was laughing.

"Decency, much?" Brian threw the towel at Brock's back, who grabbed it and wrapped it around his waist again, blushing hard.

Brock was fiddling with his black gloves, trying to calm his nerves. He and Tyler were heavies, meaning they would be in charge of protection. Brian was explosives management hence the tight grip on the explosives bag. Jonathan and Craig were carriers, the actual "grabbing" part of their mission, each equipped with extra large black Jan Sports bags as well. Lui was tech, and was busy with his laptop, connecting the wireless head sets. David was sitting in the front, driving. He was the "go" part of the mission. Alexa and Evan, meanwhile, were in the white SUV in front. They were the decoys.

The vans cruised to a halt and Jonathan held up a hand in a gesture of stay put.

"Wires are all live, so try not to talk much before Evan gives us the signal. He and Alexa can hear us and we can't afford for them to blow cover," Lui reminded. "Can you hear us Ev?"

"Good. Lexa and I are heading out. Take your positions."

Jonathan pushed open the door, and they all filed out. They were behind the store in an alleyway, a passage Jonathan and Lui had found when they went for the stake out. Easy hiding spot, easy way up. The only downside was it was a one way street. A metal ladder behind a chainlink fence and gate lead the roof, and Lui was already cracking it open and swinging the gate open for Brock, Tyler, and Brian as soon as they got out of the car. Brock climbed up first, glancing back only once to check on Tyler below him and Brian who were following him up.

Once on the roof, Brock saw the sky light. He and Tyler raced towards it, parting and running around to opposites sides of the circle glass ceiling and attaching bungee cords to the metal pieces around the glass. It was thin glass. Once Tyler and Brock jump, David and Lui would be accompanying them with more heavier guns while Jonathan and Craig carried automatic assault rifles, same as Tyler and Brock.

"Hi again! We would like to see the 'LA Summer' ring, please?" Alexa bubbled sweetly. It took everything Brock had not to laugh out loud at her tone. He could see Tyler shaking across from him.

Brock could just about see the Evan and Alexa through the glass. There weren't many in the store, two guards by the front door, three other servers, and maybe two other couples.

"Honey, would you mind if I quickly run to the loo?" Evan responded with a sickening "of course babe," kissed her cheek and turned back to the desk lady.

"So," Evan said. Across from him Tyler stood up and back away to get a running leap at the glass. Brock followed his movements, loosing sight of Evan and desk lady as he backed up.

"I'm here to discuss the 'double stone' option again."

Go time.

Tyler and Brock bounced into the air, guns drawn, crashing down onto the glass window and shattering it. As they plummeted down the glass scattered all around, giving them the seconds they needed to land, cut the bungee before they bounced up, and hide behind the desk again. The back door was thrown open, and Jonathan and Craig came in, guns drawn and shouting.

Brock leaned over the edge, catching sight of a guard just standing up and pulled the trigger, and spray of metal digging into the man sending him back down to the ground. Brock aimed and fired again, catching another guard; Jonathan and Craig shot out cameras. Evan's fake surprised was bad, but it didn't really matter at this point weather his acting was bad. It was good enough.

"Listen up!" Jonathan called, sending a boot through an unbroken display case. "This is a robbery. Now, if everyone cooperates, perfect! You can all go home to your loving families and live a long happy life without ever seeing any of us again," Jonathan smiled. "However…if so much as one of you says something I don't like, makes a move I don't like, or so much as THINKS about calling the cops…" Jonathan allowed his eyes to wander the room. "Then you'll end up like that guy," and with a single shot Jonathan blew the back of a man's head out. The women next to him screamed and ducked down.

Brock starred at Jonathan; that hadn't been the plan.

"Move, move, move!"

Tyler and Brock rounded the hostages up, Evan as well, and put them into the "employees only" room. As they filed them in, however, Jonathan held the women who screamed back, placing the gun firmly in her stomach. "Not you," he said, and pulled her to once side as Tyler slammed the door shut.

"What the fuck are -" Tyler began but Jonathan had already pulled up her left sleeve.

It was a bar code.

"I guess you were staking this place out too, huh?" Jonathan snarled. The girl simply starred at him, unafraid.

"I got friends who will make you bleed for this," her words thick with a southern accent.

Jonathan simply smiled. "Tell them in hell, darlin'," He laughed his wicked laugh and shot a bullet through her head as well. "Her friend is also a Renegade. Don't feel sorry for them," Jonathan simply added, glancing between Tyler and Brock. "Now watch for police. Owl boy in there will take care of the hostages."

As Brock and Tyler moved to the front, they could already see the people who had amassed outside, although they all kept a safe distance away from the building.

"One of them is bound to of called the police by now," Tyler observed. Brock nodded. The smashing and scrapping of glass and metal behind them as Craig and Jonathan scooped rings, necklaces, earrings, and other pieces of jewelry into the black backpacks. The faint swearing of Lui as he and David worked on a safe secured in the floor. They were making good time.

"It's really just a matter of time now. Who can get moving faster?" Brock observed. It was interesting, he was feeling relatively calm right now, even though he had just shot several people, hold plenty more at gun point, and jumped through a glass ceiling light.

"Let's hope its us," Alexa sounded behind them and Brock turned to take in the girl. She had equipped armor and her signature pistols were drawn and ready to go.

"Took you long enough, what were you doing?" Brock teased.

"Busy shooting a little 'callout' video for the authorities to find, what have you been doing?" Part of the plan was for Alexa to be caught on tape, this would make it even harder for the Renegade program to explain.

"Shooting two undercover Renegades and locking Evan in the closet," Tyler responded. Brock laughed and Alexa turned to him, holding back her laugh.

"Oh? I thought we were trying to help him get out?"

"Nah, he took too long. Besides, he seems happier in there."

All three of them laughed this time. Gunshots from out back drew their attention, and all three turned to see what was happening. Suddenly, a blast from some explosive went off, making all three of them cringe from the pain of the high pitch explosion in their earpieces.

"Pull Evan out of the closet! We leave now." Lui's voice screeched over the gunshots outside. "Where is Brian?" Brock screamed, but no one responded, only more gunshots.

"You can't force someone out when they don't want to come out Lui," Alexa's voice chastised, but she was already running towards the back door to help out. She glanced back to Brock nodding; she would deal with Brian.

Brock slammed the door to the employee room open, making everyone in the and stare like wild rabbits. Brock pointed his gun at Evan, who was relatively near the door. Evan starred at him, question and worry in his eyes. He could hear everything from his earpiece, and he knew something was wrong.

"You, with us."

Evan starred, but scurried out in his best attempt at fear, Tyler glaring at the others behind them before closing the door again. He broke off the handle as Brock gave Evan his gun and armor, which Evan was all too happy to strap on.

"Thanks," he said, glaring. Of course Evan had heard their shit talk, and Brock laughed coarsely at Evan's pissed attitude.

"I'm just disappointed we had to pull you out of the closet instead of you coming out on your own free will," Brock smirked. Tyler let out a loud laugh, and Evan stopped to punch them both before finishing his suit up and grabbing the gun from Brock's shaking-with-laughter hands.

Outside, it was a real life shoot out. Police were at the opening of the alley, police cars creating a blockade, firing down towards the group of them, all either hiding behind the now heavily armor van or wooden crates. David was in the front seat with Lui, both bent out of the way to avoid any stray bullets or notice. Lui caught site of the men, and shouted into head sets "let's get her going, boys!" in his squeaker voice. Brian and Alexa were no where to be seen.

It took mere seconds for them all to get into the van, now a lot more packed with Evan in the back as well.

"Where is Brian?" Brock shouted, panicked.

Almost in response another explosion rocked the van. It vibrated through Brock's headset, and he tore it out of his ear wincing from the pain. The others in the back of the van were in similar pain. Then Brock found Brian. Alexa and Brian were running at full speed towards the van, a column of smoke and fire behind them rising into the sky; it looked like a scene straight out of GTA, and Brock couldn't help but laugh slightly.

"Great fucking job for blocking our path with fucking fire guys!" Lui yelled at the two. Alexa and Brian reached the back and got hold of the door handles just before David punched the gas. Brian stumbled into Brock, who caught him with his arm and wrapped it protectively around his waist, Alexa almost fell, but Jonathan and Tyler caught her.

"Thanks for that warning David!"

"Stop bitching and hang on!" The car was picking up speed, and the stray gun shots of police who survived the explosion became more and more frequent. Brock could see the roaring inferno of fire fast approach the front of the car. "Uhh…?" Brock questioned. The rest of the car looked just as alarmed.

"Hang on!" David called, and a second later the van hit fire storm. Alexa and Tyler pulled the doors shut just as the front hit it, and the heat that rolled through just the doors was enough to bake the insides. Then it was over; the van made it through and David made a sharp right turn and came out onto to Rodeo Drive. He took a left and then another hard right, making everyone in the back skid and stumble, then aimed the van towards the Santa Monica Mountains. Behind them, sirens began to blare as police cars began the chase, some battered from the van's hit, others still in good condition.

"Alright boys," Alexa drew their attention to her, an automatic shotgun clutched in her hands and a cocky smile on her face. "Let's see how well you handle those guns of yours." Tyler, Evan, and Jonathan flanked the left side of the van while Brock, Brian and Alexa flanked he right, all aiming their guns towards the armored vehicles chasing them. "Aim for the tires and the windshield. They're bullet proof to a point; keep hammering and you will get in." And with that, Alexa kicked the doors open and bullet shells flew out the back and rained down the vehicles in pursuit.

The less protected vehicles almost instantly spun out of control, while the more armored cars took more punch. Brock focused on hitting the window shield, trying to blast the driver. He unloaded an entire clip and half of another before he saw the glass pane collapse and another bullet sink into the driver. One armored vehicle swerved into another, taking the other with it as both beelined into the side of a building and exploding. Brock whooped along with the rest.

"Okay Brian," Alexa smirked, catching his eye and exchange the mischievous grin. "Light them up."

"With pleasure," Brian promised, and pulled out four grenades. Brian bowled the first one out the doors, and it went off underneath an armored car, the vehicle flipping up and over and landing on it's back, skidding slightly.

Brian bowled a second one, but then put the other two away and instead made for tear gas canisters. He grabbed two bottles of tear gas, and prepared to roll them when the racket of guns exploded into the car, knocking Brian onto his back as bullets race around them. Tyler and Alexa swung the back doors shut and looked at Brian, shock in their eyes.

"You good?" Alexa asked, concerned.

Brian picked up himself up and crouched again. "I'm fine. Open the doors."

When the doors swung open again, Brian bowled the cans out quickly before they closed again. The gas released quickly and David took the right turn he'd been waiting to take for a while. The van swerved through the small alley for a bit before coming out on a backroad leading towards the mountains. No sirens and no gunshots sounded as they drove down the road at a normal speed.

"Have we lost them?" David called from the font.

"Think so," Tyler called back, his rifle still in his hands as he watched out the back window. After a minute however, he slide down on the ground next to Craig, who was rubbing his sour and slightly cut up hands, looking at the man in concern.

"Shards of glass. Even the thick gloves weren't enough," Craig's breathy laugh was sad and filled with pain as he examined the scratches and cuts.

Brian also watched the two of them as Tyler gently held out his own hand offering to inspect Craig's, which the later took and allowed Tyler to inspect it. Brian then turned back to Brock and winked, both thinking the same thing.

Evan and Jonathan were sitting next to each other, Jonathan was looking through the bag and Evan was helping, both pulling out bits here and there to inspect and show the other mumbling inside jokes and making the other giggle before putting it back.

Alexa ripped off her chest armor and stretched. "I'll be glad to get out of this car when we hit the mountains," she directed the statement towards Brock who had slumped down on the seat next to her as Brian curled up between his legs. She looked at the two of them, amused, then rolled her eyes. "There's way to much gay in here for me."

Brian laughed and elbowed her.

"Come on, you know you like it."

She glared at him, but the withheld smile was almost too visible.

"And what the fuck do you mean too much gay?" Tyler joined in. "No one is making out."

"Yet," Alexa pointed glancing between him and Craig making the two blush and the rest of the car laugh. Tyler didn't let go of Craig's hand though, instead calling to David "Hey medic, when we stop I need some Neosporin for Craig."

David grunted. Lui shouted "we got you" for David, and tossed a small tube of the gel into the back which Tyler caught easily.

After Alexa's comment, Evan had kind of pulled away from Jonathan, instead leaning against the wall of the van and closing his eyes faking a yawn and mumbling "wake me up when we get there." Jonathan watched him a second, a hurt expression on his face, before going back to sorting through.

"Hey Alexa, what was that ring you thought was super cool when you first staked the place out?" Jonathan asked.

"It was called 'LA Summer'. It's two shades of silver pressed together with streaks of blue in it, the outside silver is a shiny white-ish shade while the inside is-" but Jonathan was already holding up the exact ring. Alexa starred, leaning forward and bringing her hand up to gently caress the silver ring. "That's it," she whispered.

Jonathan pressed it into her hand, a lopsided warm smile on his face.

"Keep it."

Alexa's eyes were wide and she thanked Jonathan profusely, hugging the man. Brock grinned at the exchange, and teased Jonathan asking "where is my ring?" Evan's one open eye also observed the exchange and the two afterwards, a hint of annoyance in his face. Brock couldn't understand why he was upset; he'd pulled away first. But the gentle laugh and easy talk of the group was more interesting than wondering what was going through Evan's head.


	10. Chapter 9 - Why Is She Here?

They reached the mountains at night fall. David took two detours to avoid cops so by the time the headlights of the white van reached the house, Alexa was more than glad to see the three story ranch house with the its adjacent garage and spacious fields.

David turned the engine off and everyone piled out, Tyler pushing the back doors open and helping Craig and his beaten up hands out of the van. Alexa threw one of the gun's duffel bag over her shoulder while Brock took care of the other. Evan moved towards David and Lui to check in with them, and Jonathan sidled up beside her, watching Evan go.

"What's going on?" she whispered to him, looking up at her friend.

"Huh?"

"Why did you give me that ring in front of him?"

Jonathan hung his head. He wasn't going to look at her because he knew he was stupid.

"I don't know…"

"You're gonna give him the wrong idea."

"I know I know. I just…" Jonathan ran a hand through his hair. "I just don't get him, that's all. And I needed to find a way to make him talk to me."

Shit. He had no idea what he was doing. Alexa twisted the ring fitted snuggly around the fourth finger of her right hand.

"Okay guys, here's the deal," Evan announced, he had switched on his phone's flashlight and was shining it towards his chest so his face was light like someone telling a scary story to a child.

"This is the ranch house. We're gonna be staying here for the next few days until everything blows over. With the amount of police that trailed us, it could be a while, but we don't know yet. That means we need to unpack now and store this van. David, I'll park the van. Rest of you unpack and go inside. And someone cook something up, please? I'm this close to eating Tyler right now," Evan said, holding his thumb and forefinger of his right hand a millimeter apart.

Tyler snorted. "Eat this dick Ev,"

Evan flipped him the bird and moved towards the front seat as David and Lui pulled their belongings out of the front and headed towards the house with the others. Jonathan moved off to open the door, whispering he'd be right back, and Alexa started towards Evan. She slapped his back gently, drawing his attention.

"I'll open the garage door for you."

"Thanks."

It was an easy handle, push in, turn to the right, then pull up. The garage inside was dusty, and Alexa's long shadow thrown by the headlights only made the place even more creepy. She stepped aside, allowing the van in and closed the door behind him, locking it from the inside. Once done locking it, she turned and starting kicking the license plate hard, knocking it off with her foot after a few tries. Evan had gotten out and watched her confused but silent until she finished.

"We need new license plates. Can't have them tracking us."

A clicking sound behind both of them made them turn, and the door leading into the rest of the house opened to reveal a Jonathan standing in the doorway.

"Beer should be in one of these crates here. Evan, help me?" Jonathan asked, pointing to an empty bookshelf with wooden crates stacked to the ceiling.

Alexa knew to make herself scarce, and started to duck out of the door when she heard Evan say "listen, Jonathan, we need to talk." Despite her loyalty to both of their privacies, Alexa pressed herself against the wall just out of site outside the garage. It was a small hallway between the living room and the kitchen which also opened up on another hallway leading from the staircase and front door. None of the others in the house could see her from her spot either, so there was no chance of being caught.

"Yeah, what's up Evan?" Jonathan asked, the gentle clinking of beer echoing through.

"Um," Evan mumbled.

"I…I don't…" he sighed a get-it-over-with sigh. Alexa gulped. "I want you to stop flirting with me all the time."

There was silence, Evans words hanging in the air, making Alexa cringe and rest her hand against the wall, eyes scrunched and lip bitten.

"What?" Jonathan asked, a breathy laugh escaping. "What do you mean flirting with you? I didn't give you a ring."

"No you didn't…"

"So how am I a flirting with you?"

"Jonathan I just want you to stop!"

More silence.

"Okay and you don't like me flirting with you because…?"

"Because I just don't swing that way, man."

Again, silence. The whole conversation was so cringe worthy and awkward Alexa was biting her knuckle to not make any noise.

Jonathan scoffed. "You don't swing that way?"

Evan made an affirmative sound.

"Why does it matter what way you swing? You like what you like."

"Okay, well, I don't like you."

Now that stung. And the silence that remained was even more bitter.

"You don't like me?" Jonathan's disbelief was edged with sadness. "What about all the times you've flirted with me, huh? What was that? What did you mean when you wrapped your arm around me the other night while watching fucking Parks and Rec? What did you mean when you pulled my shirt off practically after Alexa's first bootcamp? What did you mean when you crushed the air out of my lungs hugging me so tightly after seeing my face for the first time?" Jonathan paused for breath.

"What about all that gaming fun we had together? Just the two of us. What about that?"

More tense silence. "Evan…"

Evan sighed. "I didn't pull your shirt off."

"Does it fucking matter?" Jonathan nearly exploded. Alexa jumped and heard the conversation in the sitting room stop, listening.

Alexa couldn't let them know what was going on. As quietly as she could, she creeped away from the door and then walked normally into the sitting room.

"Everything okay?" She asked casually. Brock was nowhere to be seen, Brian was on the coach with Craig flicking through TV channels, and David was crouched in front of Lui's chair, Lui's head hung and elbows on his knees.

"Lui has a concussion I think," David stated, bluntly.

"I told you I'm fine, stop worrying about me so much," Lui sighed, his head still hung.

"Lui," David said gently, placing a hand under his chin and raising it. He then held up two fingers for Lui to see. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

Lui sighed and leaned back in his chair, resting his head on the back of his chair.

"Four."

"Told you," David said looking at Alexa for confirmation.

"Fuck off, they were all too close together too tell," Lui swore.

"He definitely was holding up two," Alexa said from her position in the doorway.

Lui frowned at her, but he wasn't actually looking at her, more like passed her slightly. "You're no help, are you?"

"David can you fix him up?"

"Yeah," David stood up, pulling his skinny black jeans up slightly as well. "Brock is cooking this time so I could help out Lui. Tyler's gone to shower, btw."

David started to lift Lui up when a bang and stomping resounded behind Alexa. Jonathan passed by her, not looking and not saying a word, but just heading straight for the stairs and taking them two at a time. Upstairs, he slammed a door and Alexa could hear him lock it.

Evan soon followed after him, carrying a crate of beer which his placed in the kitchen, then the back door slammed shut.

Silence.

"What the fuck was that?" Craig asked, looking at Alexa for answers. She hung her head, then shook it gently.

Dinner was light; spaghetti with a meaty sauce because Tyler protested when he saw Brock trying add vegetables without meat. They all ate in relative silence, acutely aware of the tension between Jonathan and Evan, who sat on opposite ends of the table avoiding looking in each others general directions.

Alexa had given up all of hope of trying to find a conversation starter by now. First it was thanking Brock for cooking, then making a joke about how it's better than David's cooking skills. That was fun for a little while. Next it was on Lui, who was upstairs resting. David said he was fine, explained to Jonathan what had happened when he asked, then silence resumed. Then she tried to get everyone interested in what they would all do tomorrow, threatening to take them all on a hike which was avidly protested for a good five minutes.

"You cannot make me enjoy nature even if you stuck a coctass up my ass," Tyler declared.

"You wouldn't enjoy it anyway! It's a fucking cactus," David exclaimed, setting off a riotous laugh. "Unless you're into that kinky shit!"

But now, it was silent. Alexa glanced from David to Craig to Tyler to Brock to Brian asking for help, silently pleading. Brian caught her eye however, and nodded when she jerked her head and widened her eyes to show how lost for possible conversation she was that would engage the two silent statues at opposite ends of the tables.

"So you guys drop a crate on someone's foot or something earlier? Is that why we're low on beer?" Brian asked, trying to lighten the mood a little.

That was the worst possible conversation starter.

Alexa kicked Brian under the table.

"You could say that," Jonathan said, calmly, as he twirled his pasta around on his fork.

Evan laid his down, not looking up. "No. We just had a conversation that wasn't going the way Jonathan wanted it to."

Alexa scrunch her nose and eyes, then kicked Brian again, who glared at her apologetically.

Jonathan laughed a course laugh. "It wasn't a conversation; it was just a talk, wasn't it Evan?" Jonathan challenged the man opposite him. The room was quickly heating up as the two's tempers flared. Alexa was constantly kicking Brian now, and he moved his leg away from her further so she had to stop. Oh she was going to kill him for this later.

"Yeah, a talk about how inappropriate you are," Evan said, looking up at him now.

"Inappropriate I am? Honey we just talked about this," Jonathan glared, bitterly spitting the word 'honey' at him.

Evan scowled. "Do not call me honey, Jonathan."

"What would you prefer then? Baby, doll face, cutie pie?" Jonathan spat each word with more and more venom.

"Okay! Chill!" Alexa finally shouted, standing up and looking between the two in disbelief. "You're not fucking four years old grow up, both of you!"

Jonathan and Evan glared at each other still. Everyone else at the table starred between them, unaware of the conversation that had taken place literally an hour before.

"You're grown ass fucking men, so act like it. I don't give a fuck if you think Jonathan is inappropriate, Evan," she starred hard at Evan who lowered his gaze under her eyes. "And I don't give a fuck what your nickname for him is," her eyes met Jonathan's and they starred each other down, Alexa winning.

"I shouldn't have to be the adult here. Act like your in charge of yourselves and not bickering old ladies," Alex sat back down heavily with a sigh. She grabbed the nearest beer, Jonathan's, and took a large swig from it.

"You don't give a shit about his pet names, he gave you the ring and everything," Evan mumbled under his breath as he picked up his fork again.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP EVAN OR I'LL SLIT YOUR GODDAMN THROAT!" Alexa lost it, starring at him eyes wide and electric with anger. Evan jerked his head up, fear in his eyes and an attempt at a poker face splattered across his complexion. He looked back down at his plate, but Alexa remained starring at him in disbelief.

"You have no idea how much of an asshole you are, do you?" Alexa breathed. Evan stiffened, the words clearly cutting him deep.

Alexa heard something, and was still, intent on listening as the sound, a faint low hum, sounded in the far distance. Jonathan could hear it too, and without a word the two got up simultaneously and went to the door of the kitchen, looking out towards the living room where a large window looked out onto the street. Light could be seen over coming up the hill towards their ranch house, a slow progression but getting closer none the less. Alexa went back into the kitchen followed by Jonathan where she threw him an assault rifle from the gun bag and a spare clip while she took one of her pistols from its holster and followed him towards the front door.

"Whats going on?" Tyler asked, getting up with the others, now also aware of the noise.

"Car lights…"Alexa spoke softly. "Stay inside," she glanced at the guys, then twisted the handle of the door and opened it, both Jonathan and Alexa slipping outside into the cold night air of the Santa Monica mountains.

They moved down the path to the road slowly, guns at the ready as the car - now clearly a silver nissan - drew closer to their house.

"I thought we wouldn't be found up here," Alexa said just loud enough for Jonathan to hear.

"I didn't think we would either honestly," Jonathan replied, watching the car with a glare. "You take lead on this."

Alexa nodded and stuffed her gun into the back of her jeans and went forward to the gate as the car pulled up outside the small wooden fence gate. The car door opened, and a figure stepped out, followed shortly after by two others: one from the passengers side and the other from the back.

"Hi there!" Alexa bubbled, leaning on the fence, a thick southern bell accent coating her voice in a sickeningly honey tone. "What can I be doin' for y'all tonight?"

"I want to see Evan," the first girl said. Alexa was taken aback, and starred at the girl, now clearly a girl, trying to place her. She had long light brown hair and wore a Vanossgaming shirt with jeans tucked into knee high boots and a thick coat on. Her passenger side friend had dark brown hair pulled into a messy bun with a large circle scarf, thick overcoat, a skirt and knee high socks to match her knee high Uggs. Back seat friend wore jeans and a hoodie with black sneakers and long blond hair loose around her face. They looked unarmed, tired, and concerned, but Alexa still didn't trust them.

This was weird; if they were fans, how had they found them. She turned to Jonathan for answers, but the look on his face said all she needed to know. They weren't fans, they were far from being fans. They were the girls the fans of Vanossgaming, I Am Wildcat, and Daithi De Nogla hated.

The first girl looked up from Alexa and Jonathan and towards the house, recognition and relief spreading across her face in a smile as she waved and called out "Evan!"

Sydney, Nikki, and Mari. The girlfriends of Evan, Tyler, and David respectively. Alexa glanced back towards the house and saw the three men standing still, a mixture of surprise, happiness, and confusion on all their faces. It was Evan first who moved, stepping off the porch and towards the girls, then he moved quicker and almost ran to her, throwing his arms around the tall brunette and kissing her, her laugh tinkling in the air.

Alexa stepped back, confused and alarmed at what she was witnessing. Niki and Mari went through the gate now to meet their boyfriends as Sydney and Evan stayed entangled together, kissing and starring into each other's eyes.

"What the hell is she doing here Evan?" Alexa shouted at him, finally understanding what was going on. Evan jumped and turned to look over his shoulder at Alexa. He had a far off happy look on his face she had never seen before.

"I don't know," he looked at Sydney for an explanation, but she was saved by Jonathan.

"Evan…" he muttered, hoarsely. Jonathan was producing almost a literal haze around him he was so furious, so full of raw emotion. Evan heard it in his voice and turned fully around to look at him, eyes widening as he moved Sydney behind him.

"I thought I told you…" he began, but his voice tripped, giving Evan a minute.

"I didn't call her up, I didn't lie to you Jonathan,"

"Wait, that's Jonathan? That's Delirious?" Sydney asked. Evan's face fell and his eyes squinted shut cringing as he understand what she had just said.

Now, Jonathan was gonna blow.

"I thought I told you…" he started again, this time raising the gun and pointing it straight at Evan's head, pressing it hard into his forehead above his eyebrows.

"I thought I told you to get rid of her."

Evan backed away from Sydney and towards the house, all the while Jonathan keeping the gun pressed to his head.

"Jonathan, look man I had no idea she was coming, okay? I didn't call her, I didn't tell her anything I swear. I don't know how she found me, but maybe since she's here we can figure something out?" Evan pleaded, trying to calm the raging man down and stop him from pulling the trigger.

"I told you get rid of her." Jonathan said louder, more angrily. "And you didn't fucking listen to me…"

Evan swallowed hard. His eyes darting between the gun and Jonathan. Jonathan's eyes were on fire, angry and hateful. He wasn't thinking, he was angry, and Alexa could see Evan suddenly realized how badly Jonathan wanted him dead.

So Alexa stepped up behind Jonathan and brought both her hands to the side of his head with a hard smack. It stunned him, and he dropped the gun giving her enough time to kick it away and pull his arms behind his back and into a locked position. He struggled to be let go, swearing and swinging his head back trying to catch her head, but she pulled his arms up towards the back of his head, daring his bones to break. It stopped him quick enough, and he stood motionless in his grip, breathing heavy to calm himself down.

Alexa glared at Evan, starring at him for a long hard moment. She hoped he realized how much a favor she was doing him, stopping Jonathan from going ape shit on him.

"Get her inside. I better not fucking see her again tonight, got it?" She hissed at him, loud enough for Jonathan, Evan, and Sydney to hear. "Because if I do, I'll pull the trigger myself. You broke the rules Evan, all of you did. And if I'm reminded that you did one more time tonight, I'll shoot you," Alexa pointed her finger at Evan, "her," moving it to Sydney, "and everyone else, without a moments hesitation." Alexa looked back at Evan, who was nearly cowering beneath her gaze. "Clear?"

Evan nodded and ushered Sydney inside, telling her not to talk. He pushed David, Tyler, Niki, and Mari inside and up the stairs away from the chaos downstairs. Craig, Brian, and Brock moved aside to let them go, then moved into the kitchen to clean up. Alexa watched them all go, counting the seconds until she and Jonathan were out of site.

Once they were, Alexa let Jonathan go. He collapsed onto the ground shaking with tears he had not wanted Evan or Sydney or anyone else to see. Alexa ran her hands through her hair, trying to calm her fast beating heart. Jonathan was in tears, and memories of the last time he cried were flooding her head and making it impossible to stand. She sank down next to him, breathing fast.

"Why?" he cried, his breath catching and his violent sobs throwing off his voice.

"Why?" he asked again, this time looking at Alexa. Her eyes widened when she saw Jonathan's tear streaked face and watery blue eyes shaking with an impossible fragileness she had never seen in him. She felt herself melting, watching her best friend cry so hard.

"Why not?" she asked. Why was this happening to Jonathan? Of all the people who should have their hearts broken, their trust destroyed, why was this happening to Jonathan?

"Love hurts, Johnny. If love didn't hurt, then people wouldn't write songs or stories about it; about falling in love…about the abuse of love…and about the loss of love."

Jonathan's sobs were hard and rocked his entire body. Alexa wrapped her arm around him and looked up towards the stars, faint and barely visible in the dark black sky above them. The night was the same peacefulness it was two years ago, when they were both sat on the grass feeling their worlds collapse.

"At least you know this love is real," Alexa cooed.

"I don't want to love him!" Jonathan cried, and all Alexa could do was rest her head against the side of his in sympathy.

She couldn't help but remember the last time they sat like this, only she was crying into Jonathan's arms in the spare bedroom of Jonathan's small apartment before she moved in with him. She remember the way the sobs hit her body and the way Jonathan traced circles on her back until she fell asleep from all the crying. She thought she might of loved him that night, at two in the morning with clothes that still smelt like fire and eyes still raw from the flames, but after what had happened earlier that night, she wasn't even sure she could love ever again.

So now she sat, Jonathan crying tears of a broken heart into her shoulder, as she looked up into the night sky and wished she could love that deeply again.


	11. Chapter 10 - Keep My Secret

David was lying in the rickety double bed in the pitch blackness of the small room. In the bed next to him, curled up completely naked is Mari, her arms wrapped around his bare chest and snuggled up with a small smile. Her black wavy hair was draped delicately around her shoulders and smelled of her perfect shampoo and her perfect lips and were parted as she breathed in and out in her sleep, her long eyelashes resting softly on her cheeks and brushing against his side tickling him as she breathed. The room was dark and the curtains were drawn, yet Mari glowed with an aura of light only Mari possessed.

Everything about her was perfect, yet something was still bothering him. How had she known where they were? David hadn't said a word to Mari after their tearful break up, but somehow she showed up along with Niki and Sydney. It had hurt too much, and seeing her again was a strange mix of finally sealing an open wound and ripping it open with your fingernails. He touched her, kissed her, felt her skin smooth and perfect against his again, felt her hot breath and against her cheek and her nails digging into his back and he'd loved every second of their reunion. Yet at the same time he hated it; her skin was cold and hostile, her nails hurt, her lips were dry, and her hot breath was suffocating. It was like fucking a stranger blindfolded while listening to your lover's voice all at the same time.

David untangled himself from Mari's hug and swung his legs out of the bed. She stirred, raising her head slightly from the pillow, her black hair a mess and her bright brown eyes drooped.

"Where are you going?" she purred, stretching a hand out to him and falling back down on the bed, her bare skin an invitation.

"Get some water. I'm thirsty."

"Hm, bet you are," Mari giggled playfully and rolled onto her back, her perfect breasts catching the slight moonlight coming through the window. She turned to look at him, a slight pout forming on her face. "Stay with me?"

David wanted to obey, to crawl back into bed and kiss her and touch her and relive the passion they had both experience earlier. But his skin crawled, and he finished zipping up his jeans, tip toed out the door, and whispered "be back in a moment," then closed the door gently.

The ranch was three stories, and David was on the second. Lui had originally planned to room with him and Craig and Brian would take the room next to his, however Evan and Sydney took their room and Lui went upstairs to sleep with Jonathan. Pretty much everyone else was on the third floor to avoid the three couples. Tyler and Niki were on the third, but David hadn't heard anything from them or anyone else. The stairs lead down towards the front door, the living room on the right. Another hallway that ran alongside the stairs went to the kitchen, passing a door under the stairs that lead to the cellar on the right and another hallway separating the kitchen and living room leading to the garage. The were arches leading from living room, to hallway, to kitchen, so the hallway was kinda pointless.

David stumbled into the kitchen and searched from a water glass, still fixing the shirt he had hastily pulled on. His searches found him one which he washed out once before filling to the brim with water and drinking it all. He wasn't thirsty, but he wanted to loose the taste of Mari that still lingered in his mouth.

There was a window above the sink and David could see the beginnings of a dawn approaching. Glancing at the wall behind him, David saw it was about four in the morning, and he also saw a figure leaning back in it's chair looking at him, a half empty bottle of whisky sitting erect on the table with an empty tumbler next to it.

"Your shirt is inside out."

David jumped, but recognized the short hair, gray tank top and hard, amused eyes of Alexa. David sighed, fake clutching his heart miming a heart attack.

"What are you doing here?"

Alexa rolled her shoulders as she adjusted her spot, leaning her chair back onto the floor. "I've been here all night."

David stared at her. "Why?"

The girl sighed, and looked at the whisky bottle.

"Did you drink all that?"

"…yep."

"Why?"

"Nightmares."

"Nightmares?"

"Well…more like memories I guess," Alexa folded her arms across her chest. She wasn't acting right. Maybe it was all the whisky, or David's sleep deprivation, but Alexa was acting uncomfortable, almost vulnerable.

"Whats wrong?"

Another sigh.

"You don't have to tell me," David assured. He washed up his glass in silence, put it away with a soft chink, then turned back to her. She was still watching him, sadness deep in her eyes.

David and her locked eyes. He waited for her to stare him down, but she looked away first, and ran a hand through her hair. Something was very wrong. David picked up both glass tumbler and bottle, dragging them towards him and sitting down in the chair opposite her. He poured himself a glass worth several shots, then knocked the whole thing back, wincing as the burn from the strong alcohol hit the back of his throat and ran down to his stomach. He coughed once, then looked again at Alexa.

She chuckled.

"So why are you awake?"

"Well," David stretched, feeling the wave the alcohol-generated heat spread over him. "It's weird. She - Mari - feels and acts and sounds and looks like Mari. But somehow, she just isn't Mari. I can't place my finger on it, but she's not her, she's…she's a stranger. And I can't sleep because I just had sex with a stranger yet I know it's my girlfriend."

"I didn't need to know you guys had sex," Alexa teased gently. Even her teasing was somehow more tame and sad.

"Ah come on! You're living with a bunch of guys. You'd expect it," David retorted with a laugh. She laughed too, but it was weighted.

"I don't know. I don't have the answers to everything," she sighed. "Maybe you guys have grown out of them? What with all the violence and fuckery that's been going on I wouldn't be surprised. Y'all aren't the same boys as before."

David nodded, it made sense, but he was less concerned about Mari sleeping in his bed upstairs and more concerned about how the toughest girl in his life was sitting in front him verging on tears.

"Okay," David said, leaning his weight on his elbows too engage Alexa. She turned her head to look at him, her pupils wide in the dark room light only by the faintest of sun rays outside. "What's going on? This isn't nightmares, this isn't memories, this is something you're not telling me."

She continued to stare.

"Is it about the girlfriends?"

No response. David tried again.

"Is it the heist?"

Nothing.

"Is it Evan's comment earlier?"

Alexa was silent, still, thinking over what she was going to say next. David could see from her face that whatever was going in her messed up head, it was a battle she was winning. Her usual so composed and mischievous face was open and fragile, and her emotions flitted like frames from a movie across her face one right after the other. When she did speak again, she kept her head down, not wanting to look up.

"I'm awake…because Jonathan reminded me of something…something I hadn't remembered in a long time…"

David was dead silent. Alexa was never like this, even when she was drunk. This was new, this was a frightened deer in headlights, this was a tortured prisoner finally spilling their guts, this was confession.

"I know…that…you guys think it's kinda strange that I'm okay living with so many guys…I've heard you say it…" Alexa swallowed hard and David got the impression she was holding back tears.

"But the truth is…I'm absolutely terrified of guys." The truth spilled out, and she glanced up quickly to read his expression. David was in disbelief.

"But you're so calm around us-" David began.

"-because I know that if any of you tried to hurt me I could kill you easily," she snapped.

Now that brought the conversation to a grinding halt.

"Sorry…" she apologized, almost growing smaller. "I didn't used to be like this…I was trusting…a hopeless romantic, a prep who wouldn't hurt a fly. Hard to believe now but it was true."

David's heart was picking up. It was surreal to think of Alexa like this.

"I used to have longer hair too. Down to my waist. I never wore tank tops much because I hated how small my boobs were, I never wore my hair up because I hated my forehead. I had never even picked up a gun before.

"When I met Jonathan for the first time, I didn't attack him. In fact, I straight up fucking cried when he realized he was stalking me. Even when he told me he wasn't going to kill me I was still scared because he was carrying a gun. Now I wield them as if it's an extension of my own body."

Alexa hit her elbows onto the table, and rested her cheeks on her hands, still looking down. Her hands covered her eyes, and her body tensed, then shuddered, a sob just held back from crushing her.

"I was innocent, and now…"

David swallowed. She was building up to it, whatever it was. The big reason, why she was so bitter, so brutal, so callous; it was a big "it" too, David knew that, but what she said next David was not prepared for.

Alexa still had her face down, hands on her cheeks as she stared at the wooden table in front of her, and admitted what she had been keeping secret for almost two weeks.

Morning light was crawling through kitchen window above the sink and the backdoor window too, filling the small kitchen with a warm light. They were all still there, David and Alexa. None of them had moved the entire time she told her story, but she sat, defeated, sleep deprived, and deflated in her chair, head down and eyes bloodshot. The whisky bottle had been emptied by all of them, and a second one produced, which had likewise been emptied. With the amount of alcohol they had all consumed, David was surprised they were not drunk; maybe it was Alexa's chilling and blood boiling story that kept them sober, maybe it was the utter fear that came with it.

Or maybe it was more impressed. David was impressed, terrified, but impressed. She was frightening, menacing, but also strangely human. A human David had never associated with the small girl across the table who could without a doubt kill anyone she wanted without batting an eye. But maybe, as David stood up and washed out the tumbler they had shared and threw out the bottle they had finished, she did feel remorse.

"So…um…" Alexa started, leaning against the doorway to the kitchen. She had left to put the whiskey back and was going to start making breakfast for everyone.

"I would kind of appreciate it…if…you didn't tell anyone about…" she trailed off, and shoved her hands into her pockets. David got the message.

"Your secret is safe with me," he smiled reassuringly, and opened the fridge. "I'll help with food. OH SHIT we have bacon!" David baked up with a huge grin to show Alexa, who laughed when she saw his face, gripping her sides.

Of course the smell of bacon brought down pretty much everyone. Mari was the first to walk in though, wearing one of David's shirts and underwear. When she saw Alexa in the room too, she faltered. David guessed she thought he was alone so came down to surprise him.

"You didn't come back…" she began.

"Yeah sorry, I kept him up to finish editing a live stream we did a few days ago," Alexa but in. "Started the upload but then the computers died. So we are making bacon," Alexa smiled sweetly and offered a glass of orange juice to Mari. "It's fresh," she promised.

Mari took it, eyeing her, and sat down to watch the two work. She was silent for a while, until her voice cut through the silence again. "Is it weird living with a bunch of men?"

Alexa shrugged, her back to Mari as she squeezed more orange juice. "Not really. These guys are just a bunch of push overs."

David elbowed her in her side as she tried to move out of the way, giggling. "No but really these guys are all very sweet. And living in a house with so many creative people is awesome."

"So why leave?"

Alexa glanced at David. He knew that look, she was suspicious. But she lowered her head again and continued to pressing the oranges into the strainer.

"I guess we all kind of got tired of the city? Plus, I mean, it's gorgeous out here. So call it a break? I think Craig will probably vlog - maybe Brian too - but it's just a break."

"Why did Jonathan have a gun?"

David answered this time before Alexa could. "It was a fake gun. Paintball, actually. We are all paintball freaks and an unofficial paintball game out in the wilderness would be hype," David answered simply, frowning slight at his ease of lying to Mari.

Mari hummed a response, and was quiet afterwards. David brought over a set of pancakes for her when Brian and Brock came down.

"Oh so the girl gets pancakes and we don't?" Brian instantly set off.

David swung around, holding a serving spoon out to point at him. "You can cook if you want to."

"I don't know if I trust him cooking my breakfast anyway," Brock retorted, opening the pantry door and grabbing a loaf of bread. "We need to do a grocery run at some point…" Brock got how bad of an idea that was and shut up. David glanced at Alexa, knowing she was paying closer attention to Mari than anyone else. She felt it too, she was being distant. Something was off.

David nudged her to watch the pancakes while he sat with Mari. She look up at him from her stack, still chewing.

"Wanna take a walk after breakfast?" He asked, smiling Alexa's sweet smile. She nodded, tapping his nose and squinting her eyes in a silent giggle before going back to her food. When David looked back up, Alexa was watching them, a worried, questioning look on her face. David gave her a small smile, he knew what he was doing.

Evan, Tyler, Sydeny, and Niki never showed up for breakfast, so when David and Mari left through the backdoor, no one followed them. David led Mari by the hand to the backgate, opening it and closing it behind him with a click. They walked for a good while through the scattered trees, coming up on a small lake. Mari sat down by the lakes' pathetic excuse for a beach and patted the sandy dirt next to her. It was silent between the two, Mari leaning back arching her back slightly, and David sat with his arms around his knees starring at the water of the lake, thinking.

Finally, David had to ask. "How did you find me?"

"I mean, it wasn't hard," Mari laughed. "You've always been big into nature, and the amount of videos you guys have been posting recently meant you were gonna take a break at some point," Mari drifted off, watching birds fly up above her.

"That's not exactly what I meant…" David responded, still not looking at her. He rested his chin on his crossed arms. "We didn't tell anyone where we were going…we broke up with all our significant others so we wouldn't have to worry about them…focus on work and all…" now David turned to Mari, who was starring at him confused, and maybe even slightly alarmed. "So my question is, how did you find me?"

Mari didn't hold his gaze. She looked down and pulled a stray tuft of grass. She didn't answer his question at first, then finally leaned over to touch his nose with hers. "A girlfriend always knows," she teased.

David didn't buy it.

"In all the years we dated, you were never a lier. I don't think you know how, 'cus you're not very good at it," he replied. He kept his eyes fixated on hers, despite Mari's attempts to break his gaze.

"Jesus David," Mari cried. "Why are being so mean?"

"Because I want to know how you found me," David kept his voice calm. He was starting to realize how used to intense girls he was. Alexa was always stronger and took a long time to ware down, but Mari was crumbling fast. Then David knew how to break her.

"Mari, baby…" David took her hand in his, rubbing it. She looked up at him, eyes wide and warming up to his soft voice. "If so much as one person knows we're here, we could be flooded by stalker fans. You know how scary that is." The memory of both of them having to leave a shopping mall in back in David's hometown because a group of fans had spotted him and wouldn't leave them alone flitted across both of their brains. Mari nodded.

"I just wanted a break, a chance to breath and relax again. You know I missed you," he stroked a strand of hair out of her face. "And I'm so happy you're here," David leant in for a kiss. "But I wanna know how you three girls found us again," and David's lips met the soft, full lips of Mari for a long kiss. When they parted, Mari opened her eyes and David could see it had worked.

"Okay, but you have to promise not to tell the others I told you," she started. Then Mari glanced down and their hands still entwined in the dirt. "I'll get in trouble if anyone finds out I told you how we knew you were here…"

David nodded solemnly. It took her moment to work up the courage to voice what she wanted to say, but when she did, David's blood ran cold. It was exactly what he hoped was not the case; this meant it would be goodbye to Sydney, to Niki, and to Mari, for good. If David told anyone this, they would be gone by tonight for sure.

"Sydney and I came to LA to comfort Niki after her big break up and help her move out of Tyler's house. We went out for a drink after getting her settled and a group of men in business suits with body guards and brief cases approached us, saying that had information on you guys. They told us you were all heading up to the Santa Monica mountains, to this location - they gave us the address and photos of the house, I don't know how - and told us to go find them. They said you needed us, that you guys were in big trouble. I was scared as were the others, but they promised us we would be safe. So, now we're here."

Mari finished and took a breath; she hadn't stopped to breath the entire time. David starred at her, disbelief. No doubt they were the same men that got Evan, Brian and he at their dinner meeting. Now David glanced at Mari's left arm, raising the sleeve of it slightly to reveal bare skin. She was no Renegade, but David was more than sure that no longer mattered. The girls were working for the Renegade program, and that meant they had to leave. Now.


End file.
